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Real quickly.

Morella had her six month doctor checkup yesterday. She weighed in at 13 pounds and 12 ounces and was 26 inches long. She is doing well, got her shots and is therefore spending a good portion of today sleeping. I am okay with that. She had to get over that cold and having me suction out boogers like it was a hobby….

Tim is back at work, and hopefully feeling better. Having a sick husband AND baby is the pits. Pluto is at the vet right now and getting a teeth cleaning today. His breath was pretty foul and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I finally got the furniture rearranged in the bedroom and Morella’s room. Now to clean up and make everything look nice. Next big task is to clean the L desk off in the office so that it can go to the curb on Monday.

These two videos are from a visit with my friend Kathleen last week. For the record, Morella is usually more animated by the singing frog…but that was her third or fourth time watching it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxMtYSj9O84&hl=en]

In one word – sick.

Morella didn’t have allergies…it was a cold a cold that spread to both me and Tim. In fact, Tim stayed home today and pretty much slept all day. Morella spent most of today having her nose suctioned out and sleeping. Last night was rough because she woke up screaming and inconsolable. We brought her out, tried to offer a bottle since she had only four bottles (same again today), but she didn’t want anything to do with it. Finally, I put her on the glider ottoman and she started rocking herself and eventually fell asleep doing it. I tried to put her to bed again and she cried — finally we decided it was time for some tylenol and after that she slept through the night.

Anyway, I have a sore throat and headache and overall tiredness. Morella slept a TON today which was nice. I hope she is on her way to feeling better tomorrow. The snot has started to turn a different color and thickening up today, which I always take a sign that she’s turned a corner. I’m glad that I bought Vick’s baby rub last Saturday on our way out of town ‘just in case.’ Tonight in particular, she called down and was relaxed as I gobbed the stuff on her chest and back. Tim said that he felt soothed by the stuff when he was a kid. I always felt like yucky stuff was being gobbed all over me. Maybe that is because my Mom always did it — and that was right in the beginning of my bronchitis that turned to asthma years.

I should go to bed now. I took a nap when she crashed but had to get up to pump.

I guess going six months before the first cold was pretty good right?

This weekend was good. I’ll write more later, but Morella was able to finally meet my side of the family and good times were had by all. We also were able to squeeze in a visit to my old grade school chum and see her new baby, kids and donkey. In fact, I think she really liked everyone!

Oh and guess what tomorrow holds? The six month checkup and shots. Why does she go on these eating strikes right before doctor appointments?! It’s not fair. And shots…great. Just great.

I also decided that we are going to use bumpers for the crib. Morella is so active that she gets a arm or leg stuck in the slats within minutes of me putting her in there. The smart thing would be for me to find a pattern online and figure out how to sew these things myself. The realistic part of me says to look someplace to buy them because really, when am I going to do this? Have you seen this house? It’s a freaking disaster and it’s really starting to depress me.

Go to bed Laura. You are just doing the classic sick babble when everything is dark just like before dawn.

Uh oh — I think Morella is getting a cold. She was up six times last night — I thought it was because she is obsessively rolling over, and you know they say that babies will compulsively do things over and over, but today while we were dropping off Pluto I saw a river of snot coming out of her nose. I thought it might have been a dog allergy, however Tim pointed out that she has been around plenty of dogs with no reaction and that he has seen the snot this morning in her meltdown.

Why does her first cold have to coincide with a big out of town trip?

I guess I need to remember to bring the tylenol. And nose suction thing — she is not a fan of that! Actually neither is Tim. Every time I pull it out he says something to the effect “Aww, why do you gotta ruin a good thing?” Sheesh. I should be praised for attacking the slimey boogers. PRAISED!

So, as of right now I have nothing packed. We need to stop at Target to buy some disposable diapers, a playard sheet for the pack n play and batteries for the pump. I need to try and call my younger brother James since he never responded to my facebook message about hosting a visit at his place. I need to pack clothes for all of us, a box of stuff for my friend Jessie and my Mom. Wash pumping stuff and bottles, figure out how to transport the simply thick (we use big dispenser bottles now) — sigh so much to do. I guess I should get off the computer and do some of it. At least I got a stress free pumping session in. That’s always nice.

Oh one more thing — we learned a new technique to make Morella laugh uncontrollably that requires a little girl doing pratfalls, and another baby to mirror her movements. I couldn’t believe how much she was laughing and having a good time. I can’t wait to try it out with Morella’s boyfriend Cullen next week.

Before this nap expires:

Today is MUCH better than yesterday. She was up and at em at 5:30 this morning, but was cool until 6:00 when she got up to eat. I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but 6:00AM is my first pump of the day. Tim and I set it up awhile back that I would pump at this time and if she woke up during that time he would take her while I finished pumping and making bottles (the morning pump yields two bottles). Well Tim had it easy for a few weeks there until she started to get up at 6 consistently…and while I am tad nervous about this 5:30 wake up time — at least she has the decency to keep it to herself until a little later. So, now the morning routine is I get up, warm up her bottle and get her medicine ready, start coffee sometimes and start pumping. Then Tim gets Morella up, changes her diaper and feeds her, has breakfast together, chills for awhile and then ends up back in bed because she gets sleepy! Quality Daddy/Daughter time…aww.

So she used to sleep a long time in the morning — not so anymore. Now I get a half an hour nap after the first bottle, MAYBE 45 minutes and then she is up up up. The upside is that she takes a longer nap during the day, which is nice because then I can get stuff done — like my midday pump and lunch.

Oh lunch was great today. I got these chicken nugget strips awhile back and microwaved a few of them, put them on a tortilla with some spinach, grated cheese and ranch dressing and voila — my OWN chicken wrap! It was so delicious. I finished it off with a handful of jalapeno potato chips and a Jazz Diet Pepsi (black cherry and french vanilla flavored). The sucky thing is that I followed the stupid directions on the back and blindly microwaved the first batch of stripes for 4 minutes, which was the low end of the range they gave. When I went to retrieve them the nugget stripes were shriveled up and rock hard. The plate was hot too — so put it over to the side on top of a plastic plate. Whoops!

What if it melts the plastic tupperware plate? Thinking quick, I decided to add some water under the plate to cool it off in case it decided to melt the plastic plate. Um. Hey I said thinking quick NOT thinking smart. Of course the plate cracked and had to be thrown out as soon it was cool enough. I guess it’s a good thing that we don’t care that much about matching dishes, because between our goof ups, hand washing dishes and the cats knocking stuff over and eventually with Morella — well dishes just don’t last all that long around here. The upside to this is that they sell them all over the place in the summer for garage sales.

This mornings walk was nice. Yesterday I had made spicy oatmeal cookies (with cranberries instead of raisins…oh that’s a tidbit…hold on). I packed up a whipped topping container with them and wrote on card “Welcome to the neighborhood” and went over across the street to give it to the neighbors. You see, the woman who lives there over the course of the winter had her sister and her family moved in with her. They have two little kids, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to get to know more of the folks on our block. There is another woman up the block who has two young kids — one a baby only a few months older than Morella that I have been eying up too. But one house at a time..right? I already have altered our morning walk to pass their house every day in the off chance that they are outside and I can say hi.

Do I sound pathetic? No, it’s not that…I am a leader! A determined, get something done sort of person. Yeah!

Okay. So the walk went well though I missed seeing Morella kick off one of her socks somewhere from the school to my house. Nutz. I wasn’t about to go and look for it so I just threw away the other sock once I got inside. If I find it tomorrow I’ll retrieve it, as it’s in the living room garbage which isn’t nasty like the kitchen one is. BIL Phil was at the house doing some awesome lawn stuff to make the grass greener and the weeds gone.

So I told Phil that he should take some cookies with him and mentioned they were made with cranberries instead of raisins. He said “Oh good, I HATE raisins in food.”

Huh? So does Tim! I mean likes it as much as I like seabugs—er shrimp. Oh man, I hope this doesn’t mean that Morella is going to turn into a raisin hating person too. I LOVE raisins in food.

Okay. Today’s goal in Operation House Overhaul is the tea/coffee cupboard. I should try to do that while I still have time. We have to go grocery shopping and make a trip to the bank later to get a cashier’s check to pay for the DNA testing that we all need. Getting Morella onto the tribal roll isn’t an endeavor for the faint of heart.

I’m not having a good morning at all.

Morella has been … I don’t know. She woke up. Ate five ounces. Went down for her nap. Got up a half an hour later. Played, talked in the cosleeper for a half an hour then she melted down and started bawling. I got her up after that. Changed her diaper and into an outfit for the day. Warmed a bottle, but the whole time she was on the edge of crying….tried to feed it to her and then started bawlfest part two.

Nothing I did would stop it. No jiggling. No rocking. No singing. No music. I tried again and she just throws her head back and screams. Finally I put her back in the cosleeper and she stopped crying. But then she rolls onto her back and starts talking, blowing raspberries, playing for awhile before the meltdown begins again. I flip her. Repeat. I take her out to offer a bottle again. Repeat. Put her back down…

There, she might finally be taking a nap.

Is this normal? Why is she doing this?! Do other babies do this for no viable reason?

I really need coffee.

So my brother Josh is home from the hospital yesterday. I called today to wish him a happy birthday and see how my Mom is doing. She said she was really sick yesterday and was almost admitted to the hospital but she refused. They think she might have pneumonia too. She is going to see a doctor again today at four to see how things are going.

I called the doctor at Tim’s request to get their advice on whether not we should take Morella to visit them this weekend. They said that if they are not showing any of the obvious signs of being sick with vomiting, sneezing, coughing, high fever — then the risk is the same as leaving the house to go to the grocery store. But that said, my Mom doesn’t want to risk it and doesn’t want me to visit her in the trailer because she can’t clean it this week.

I am still visiting my friend Jessie who just has a baby girl, and then afterward I think we will stop by and they will have to come outside and look at her and make it a small and brief visit. This is SO disappointing to me. I hate poverty. I wish that my family was normal and could drive and had a car that could make it to Madison and could have visited her sooner or anytime she wants. Now the burden is back on my shoulders, in that if I want Morella to ever see her grandmother or uncles then I have to figure out a trip up north so it can happen.

This day needs to turn itself around. I feel so bummed.

Weekend was good. Friday we ordered in Domino’s and watched Battlestar Gallatica and actually enjoyed an episode where stuff happened (unlike the last couple of shows).

Saturday Morella and I went garage sailing while Tim slept in. I filled up the gas tank for the second time ever and actually succeeded! I got Morella more books, a stainless six shooter muffin pan to replace the icky Teflon one that I have (when Pam with Flour exists, you don’t need Teflon), and I got an adorable big sleeping teddies cross-stitch project that I am working on for Morella’s room. It’s a big project — the biggest cross-stitch I’ll have attempted…but I have learned from my mistakes and started it last night. It’s coming along well…now I’m gonna be looking for time for work on it. It can be an heirloom —

Sunday Morella was crabby and my day to sleep in. Tim took her on a morning walk and then later on we all went to the Dog Park. It was windy and Tim and I weren’t that into it. We left after two laps — because Pluto wasn’t into it either. It was the walk in the morning that destroyed his energy. We blamed our lack of energy on our hippy lunch of (burning) Nettle Soup and Burdock root chips.

Yeah, we ate that.

Okay, gotta get the bottles started for the day and eat some oatmeal and an egg maybe. I’m hungry! And breastfast is a meal that you can pig out on…right?

Oh and my brother has pneumonia. The flu and pneumonia are two different things right? The flu is a super bad cold…and it cause pneumonia in the chest? I was thinking about that too late last night.

Whatever it is, I like it! Morella doesn’t take a long nap in the morning anymore — just a short 30-45 minute one. Which means she is up from 9.30 to … about 1:00 when she goes down it’s for 3 hours! Okay, well it has definitely been three hours yesterday and today which is awesome because I can pump, and get some chores done around the house. Today I got the dishes done and mostly put a way (there was alot), I swept the floor, washed a rug, put all the diapers away, took a shower, got dressed, talk to my Mom — my younger brother Josh had to go to the hospital today. I suspect he has a severe lung infection…but he needs more tests, and look now I am posting and catching up with my internets. It’s great!

Can you imagine would it be like if she were to take a three hour nap in the afternoon consistently? The stuff I would get done?

There is a bit of cost to this though, she has been waking up at 5:30 every morning, but we let her amuse herself until after six, then she eats like a rabid baby.

I am now on the lookout for that crib. I realized last night that I might have a harder time with this than Morella. I LIKE having her next to me within reach to see if she okay. I suggested to Tim that we just put the crib where the cosleeper is right now but he thinks she should go into her room. He’s right you know. She should get used to sleeping in her own room, and she should do the the whole crib/room transition at the same time. How do you do it though?

I mean, put her in the room when it’s bedtime and shut the door and that’s it? We have monitors…but if I wear ear plugs then what good is that? Admittedly, what good is having her next to me when I am wearing them … but I like to imagine that I would have a 6th sense if anything is amiss IF she were right next to me. The reality is that is just fantasy. Sigh. So do I use the monitor until I am more at ease that she is okay? Do people still do that after they are six months old? I just don’t know… I can’t believe that almost six months have passed already and she is ready to be in her own room. I remember the first day we put our little burrito to bed in the cosleeper, and now…*sniff*

Do people open the room door when they go to bed? Should I still use a nightlight? Won’t she be lonely?!

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Yesterday after getting her prescription refilled we stopped at Woodman’s for a few things I needed for dinner (that sucked by the way! I hate poorly written directions that take forever for a subpar meal). I didn’t bring the Moby with me and she’s too active now to stand staying in the carseat, which leaves me to carry. So I carried her in and … on a whim decided to try the cart seat. I mean she has been sitting indepently a for a little bit at a time this week, and I propped my coat around her and she held onto the bars.

She had the biggest grin ever. I would look at her and she would just smile at me and look around happy as the happiest clam that ever lived. I told Tim it looked like she was extremely proud of herself but he said babies don’t have pride. Maybe. I think she sat up a little straighter and smiled a little harder when I gushed about what a strong sitting girl she was. She did get tired near the end and started to slump and I carried her then. But she did so well…!

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I had one more thing I was going to say but I forgot what it was. So I’ll tell you that we finally saw I Am Legend last night and was disappointed. There was SO much that movie had to offer and yet even Will Smith couldn’t save it. We also saw The Mist the other night and that was actually better…

Oh I hear bells tingling from the bedroom. My sweetheart is awake!