Time Change Rant

I HATE the time change.  Now that we have children I hate it even more.  I don't understand what it's for or why we do it.  More daylight?  Um changing the clock an hour doesn't give me any more or less daylight.  Energy savings?  I don't change my schedule so I use the same amount of energy, maybe just at a different part of the day.  Can someone explain to me why we do daylight savings???

Daylight savings is next weekend and just like last fall we are preparing for it early.  We are moving the kids' bedtimes up by 15 minutes every couple of nights so that by next week when the clocks suddenly say 7 pm, but it really feels like 6 pm, their little bodies will believe it's 7 pm.  Tonight was the first night.  It's been over an hour and Cooper still won't go to bed.  I'm so irritated...I know it's only for a couple of weeks for the transition, but still. 

On a good note, we had a fun day at the park.  It was so nice out that we decided it would be a good day to take the kids out to enjoy the sunshine.  And enjoy it they did.  So much that they slept for 2 hours for their afternoon nap!

Freedom...just getting out of the stroller.  

Gonna get the camera!

All smiles. Lookin' at you lookin' at me.

Grass is pokey on the knees.

Baby can walk!

Cuddles with mommy.

Talking about our day in the sunshine.

Push me.  I am pushing you!

Baby can almost walk.

More walking baby.

Let's all walk together.

Dirt is good for you.

Bummer

It has been a busy week so far!  I had plans to go see Brandy and her Charlotte on Tuesday, but I wanted more than just an hour with her, so I rescheduled after she returns from Paris (her husband Chris is French...yes we both have husbands named Chris and daughters named Charlotte).  On Wednesday I went to Book Club and really enjoyed visiting with some women I haven't seen in awhile.  I was able to borrow a couple of books, so I've added those to my pile of 'Need to Read'.  Last night I had pilates and today I had lunch with a friend.  This weekend I plan to hang out with another friend.  I've been a social butterfly and it feels great!

The only bummer to this week was that our adoption finalization date has been delayed.  Our new social worker needs more time for review, and she also needs to submit our paperwork for the stipend.  She said maybe April.  That will make April a very full month with my birthday, Cooper's birthday, Chris' birthday and then adoption day.  That part is exciting, but we are bummed out that we won't be finalizing in March.

My sleep books for Cooper arrived yesterday!  I don't like Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child because it's too wordy and too long, plus it also recommends cry it out (although not for every family/baby).  I really love The No-Cry Sleep Solution...it advocates that there are much better alternatives to CIO.  It gives a lot of great ideas for sleep solutions (many of which we are doing), but it will require some patience to see it through (usually takes a couple months before the night waking stops).  I'm okay with that since I can't expect Cooper to change his habits overnight.

IAT

I forgot to mention that a really cool website from Blink makes you think twice about your own biases.  Take Implicit Association Tests (IAT) here.

Also we tried a new recipe from Stephanie Cooks.  She seems to feature a lot of pasta and italian food, which is my favorite!!  I think we'll definitely try more of her recipes. 

We made Creamy Tomato Chicken Skillet and it was really good!  I was  a little hesitant at first because I wasn't sure about mixing italian seasonings with cream of chicken soup, but in the end it tasted great.  I would cut the pepper in half since it seemed to overpower the recipe a bit, otherwise it was a quick 30 minute meal and new way to cook chicken. 

Blink

We were assigned a new adoption worker in Colorado.  Our other worker retired, but we weren't notified.  I don't think this will slow things down, but we plan to make a call on Monday (we've been playing phone tag).  We need to get started on travel plans if it is really going to be on March 16th!

I finished reading Blink.  It was okay.  I think I was expecting something similar to Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat and instead got something more like Dubner & Levitt's Freakonomics.  Blank wasn't bad, it just didn't have much to say.  There were some interesting points made, but mostly it wasn't anything new.  I'd say skip it.  Now I'm on to The Thirteenth Tale since Danine recommended it on her blog.

I went to the awards banquet on Friday to accept my Young Engineer Award.  We weren't able to find a babysitter (I asked all of my friends!), so Chris stayed home and I went by myself.  To be honest, Chris didn't miss much.  It was $80/person (I didn't have to pay), but the food was awful!!!  I accepted my award and left shortly after.  It was nice to be away from the kids and it was good for Chris to put the kids to bed by himself.

I always put Cooper to bed because I HATE pumping.  I have to do it all week at work and I despise it, plus I love nursing so that means I have to put Cooper to bed.  Chris did it for the first time and things went just fine.  I knew they would...I mean he puts Cooper to bed all week for naps, it's really not that much different.

Our newest frustration though?  Cooper is becoming increasingly more difficult to put to bed.  It had started getting easier and we could feed him, lay him down drowsy but awake and he would zonk out.  Now the kid thinks it's play time right before a nap and won't go to sleep on his own.  It takes 45 minutes sometimes to get him to go down!  Not sure if it's a stage, but we're frustrated.

Since we aren't comfortable with letting him cry and all the crying does is make him more riled up (as opposed to Charlotte who gets more riled up the more soothing we try to do for her).  We expected it to get easier and it just doesn't feel right to spend that much time rocking/soothing/nursing him to sleep.  He's too old for it.  I bought a couple of books (Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and The No-Cry Sleep Solution) because I'm not sure what to try next that doesn't include crying.  We'll see how it goes.

Cooper is obsessed with dog toys.  He chews on all of the dog toys.  The latest--a piece of rawhide.

Cooper also carries things in his mouth.  He regularly crawls around the house with a toy in his mouth.  I guess he thinks it's a convenient way to take toys from one room to the other.  It's fine now...but I know it will make me nervous once he starts walking.

This is just a cute one in the morning:

Here is Charlotte standing:

Here's one of them playing with their cookie jar.

Visit with Gramps

My dad came to visit over the weekend.  He came on Friday morning and left on Sunday evening.  It was a super relaxing weekend and we just hung out all weekend.  It rained a lot of the time so we weren't able to really take the kids anywhere.  My dad didn't seem to mind and it gave him and the kids more time to visit.

At first the kids weren't sure what to think, but then Cooper seemed to remember his beard and snuggled right up to him.  He also made Grandpa walk him all over.

Soon Charlotte caught on and began walking behind them.

 

Charlotte loves to play on the couch and she realized that Grandpa ALWAYS let her up to play if she pretended she wanted to snuggle and sit with him.

She did let Grandpa cuddle with her a little bit.

Grandpa brought them new toys which they were obsessed with all weekend and fought over many times.  I also bought them some new bath toys and sunglasses.  Charlotte loves hers and will wear them for 10 minutes or so.  Cooper isn't so sure.

Charlotte's hair is driving me crazy so I've been working on 'styling' it every day that I'm home.  However she has figured out how to take the hair ties out.  Meet baby Wolverina (you know because she sort of looks like Wolverine on Xmen).

Charlotte has learned to put the Legos together by herself.  It takes her awhile though.  She also still loves wearing hats.

This is Charlotte trying to stand up on her own.  She looks like a baby gymnast.  She loves to do somersaults and flip around.

She is walking from one side of the room to the other now, but she is still a little unsteady.  And Cooper has taken his first steps!!  He takes 3-4 steps between Chris and I and he will walk around holding only one of our hands.  It won't be long and we're going to have two walkers on our hands!

Charlotte is pointing to things now.  She points to her nose when we ask her where her nose is.  Of course she also points to her nose when we ask her where her eyes, ears, mouth, etc are.  When I ask where Daddy is, she just points across the room, but not necessarily at him.  I also ask her how old she is and she holds up 1 finger, but I think that's a complete fluke.  Charlotte finally gets all the hand motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider...we've been working on it for several months.  We're about as tired of that song as we were Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

Cooper has been really fussy and very demanding lately.  We think it's because of learning to walk and teething.  He got his 7th tooth in and we think there will be one more coming in.  He is so heavy lately!!  Especially compared to Charlotte.  I'm kind of looking forward to him walking!

Charlotte is also teething her molars.  She is in the middle of getting her other 3 molars.  They look so painful!  She also has a bad diaper rash which we think is caused by anything citrus, including BBQ sauce and ketchup.  Her skin is so sensitive!  She is a trooper though and isn't complaining much at all.

Remember the messy toys?  Look what happened in the bathroom while I was getting ready.

Oh, and guess what...our CO Adoption Worker may not even work for the county any more!  We called her number and it says the number is no longer in service!  This may slow down the process...hopefully not.

First steps!

I feel like I am just surviving this week.  We had layoffs at work.  It was awful to say the least.  Plus we feel like we are just run ragged with no time to relax.  My dad comes in this weekend  and then we will have some down time. 

It looks like our homestudy paperwork will be submitted to Colorado by the end of the week, so the March 16th date looks to be holding.  We are excited about that!

Charlotte has taken her first steps!!!  She can take 3-4 steps on her own.  We are working on getting it on video because she doesn't do it consistently yet.  She can also get into standing from sitting on the floor.  It is really quite impressive.  My guess is that once she takes off, there's no stopping her.  Or Cooper.

Here are some wonderful pictures of our lives lately.

Cheesey bottom tooth smile

Cheesey all teeth smile

Both of their onesies say "If you think I'm cool, you should see my dad"

Charlotte after nap time...she regularly undresses herself now.

Charlotte has discovered accessories.  She loves to put hats on, take them off, put them on again.  Oh and they also enjoy making a mess.

About that mess...they now tip the bucket over and pull out every last toy.  Three times a day.  Sometimes more.

 

Mmmm, they love blueberries!

It sure is messy though!

Cooper's hand after we wiped him down!

Constant

I found this really great explanation about what it's like to be a parent.  This is the closest I've found to really conveying what's it's like to those who don't have children or to those who have not had young children in a long time.

Q: Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group ...

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners ... I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events), I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("my life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal?

I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

--Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or, you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer, and giving my forehead some keyboard.

To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, because it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form.

When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy.

But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time.

Either make a sincere effort to understand, or keep your snit to yourself.

from http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/117977

More Video

Here is some video of the kids playing and/or fighting.  They are so funny!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Video from Denver Trip Sept 2008

Here is some cute video from Denver.  It's hard to believe how much Charlotte has grown!!  I barely remember her this way!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Lost and Found Video

Since we didn't have an easy way to transfer video from our HD camcorder before we got Adobe CS4, we never posted some of the video we took.  Here are some lost videos that I never posted.  I'm warning you that some are pretty boring, but I thought family might want to see the kids when the were younger.

Make a Smilebox slideshow