Dispatch from the road

I have internet access at my aunt and uncle’s, so figured I’d post a quick update on us.

The ride down was fine, though a bit hairy in parts.  We left a day earlier than we had wanted to because of the weather, and I’m glad we did.  The first day on the road was nasty.  I have a pic of the freeway as we were leaving the first hotel, which I’ll post later.  It was basically a pure white road with no lanes!  At least we were one of the only cars on the road.  Our car trucked through it just fine.  Eleanor did wonderfully in the car, sleeping the majority of the way.

At some point on the way down, all three of us and most of my family came down with a cold.  We’re all still fighting it.  Figures, but what can you do?  Just life.

Disneyland was fun, though quite a bit harder with Eleanor than I had hoped it would be.  She had a few major breakdowns on rides, which was not so fun, the worst one being on the Finding Nemo ride!  Ugh.  (For those who don’t know: it’s a submarine.  Yeah, imagine a baby screaming on a submarine!  It was awful.)  For the most part she was a trooper and slept quite a bit in her stroller.  Her favorite rides were Small World – she was enthralled! – and Dumbo.  Riding through Small World with her made my trip.  She was so excited and happy!

We got to my aunt and uncle’s – my uncle is my father’s brother -  in So Cal on the 26th, and had a great first evening here.  However we woke up to the news that my paternal grandfather had passed away in his sleep the night before.  : (  My grandpa successfully fought off lymphoma two years ago – it was Christmas time when he was diagnosed – but never truly recovered.  He’s been pretty ill ever since, and we’ve been worried several times that we were about to lose him.  So his death was not exactly shocking, but still felt a bit out of left field.  He had been doing pretty well lately.  My grandma seems to be coping well.  In a way it was the best possible timing: we would all have come down here for his funeral anyway of course, but this way my grandma also has help making arrangements, etc. and has all of her family around her for support.  One of my uncles lives with her still, so I’m sure he’ll keep her good company in the future.  (She lives about an hour and a half away from my other uncle, so I’m glad she has someone closer.)

Looks like the funeral is going to be this Saturday, and we’ll be staying for that.  We were originally going to leave on Friday.  John’s work is very generous and gives him three days of bereavement leave even for his spouse’s grandparents, so that’s great.  He has enough time saved anyway, but it’s a nice bonus.

We’re hoping for an uneventful conclusion to this trip.  The roads have cleared quite a bit, so at least there’s that.

Another Christmas blinkie

I saw this phrase on a onesie the other day, and it is so applicable around here right now:  “All mommy wants for Christmas is a silent night!”  I made it into a blinkie and put it on the graphics page.  As usual, save to your comp and host it elsewhere (Google Picasa, PhotoBucket, ImageShack, etc.) Thanks!

New blinkie

I’ve had “Auld Lang Syne” stuck in my head for a week, so I decided to make it into a blinkie.  It’s on the graphics page!

New pics and 9 mo appt

I put up a few pics from this past Sunday.  She was so cute in her little red tutu!

We had her nine month appointment today.  John was able to come to this one, which was great!  I always forget half of what I wanted to ask and half of what she tells me, lol!

Eleanor’s weight has dropped to the 15th percentile, while her height has gone up to the 81st!  She’s long and lean.  A little too lean though, so her doc wants us to add more fat to her diet.  We’re also going to add in a second meal every day, which I’ve been doing occasionally but without any consistency.  Her doc wasn’t too concerned about it though, and said it could just be her body type since her daddy is tall and we’re both pretty thin.  Other than that she’s doing quite well, and meeting all of her milestones.

She had her second flu shot and first polio vacc (we’re still following Dr. Sears’ alternative schedule), and did well for both.  We picked up vitamin D drops at the pharmacy, since her doc wants her on those during the winter, but we haven’t tried giving them to her yet.  Her doc also wants us to cruch up one Tums twice a week and mix it in with some fruit puree to feed her, since she can’t have any dairy.  I need to go look that up and see if there’s something better to give her.  Her doc didn’t seem so sure about it, and I remember Tums making me sick as a kid.  I don’t want her to be calcium deficient though, so if that’s the only choice we’ll have to do it!  Mmm, Tums-apple sauce!

Sleep breakthrough!

I’m almost afraid to post this, for fear of jinxing it, but I think I’ll risk it.  Last night and tonight Eleanor went down for bed, in her crib, with no fussing whatsoever, and promptly conked out!  She also did it for a nap today.  I’m just floored.  I don’t know what happened to my screaming sleep fighter, but I kinda like this Eleanor better.  Now the test will be tomorrow when I’m home alone with her: John’s been the one to put her down every time so far.  We’ll see if she’s just as happy for me.  Only problem now is that she’s still eating about four times a night, I think because of the growth spurt.  Or the teething.  Or who the heck knows at this point.  At any rate, it’s exhausting.

Today was the Christmas celebration with John’s family.  We had a great time!  Yummy food, good presents, and of course great company.  It’s nice hanging out with John’s family since they’re all adults now (well, except for Eleanor now.)  I feel like everyone’s on the same page and the group is more cohesive.  It’s different for me since there are still actual kids in my family.  I’m still not quite used to family gatherings of all adults.  Not that I don’t like hanging out with my family, it’s just nice to experience something different.

Eleanor got a couple of awesome gifts, including these water blocks by Plan Toys that we had put on her Amazon list, a cool little outdoor pool (little cold now, but should be lots of fun come summer), and a knit bear that’s as big is she is that grandma made for her.  She didn’t care about the opening of the presents, though she liked the bows, but she really loved the blocks and the bear.  It was so cute to see her face light up!  It’s interesting to see her memory start to form.  Used to be that a toy was new to her if she hadn’t seen it for two minutes, if that.  Now she recognizes toys that she hasn’t seen before and gets very excited to play with them.  We can also very clearly tell when she’s truly interested in a toy or when she just wants to check it out because it’s new, but it’s not all that interesting.  I can’t wait to see how she reacts to the rest of her Christmas gifts.

New blinkies, sleep woes

I put up a nine month BFing blinkie, and two Christmas blinkies.  Cutting it close to the holiday, but better late than never.  : )

Tomorrow is John’s family’s Christmas.  Woo-hoo!  I’m so excited to put Eleanor in her little outfit, and to see how she reacts to presents.  She loves paper so I have a feeling she’s going to have a ball!  We’ll be getting a workout keeping her from eating all the wrapping everywhere.

Nora has been horribly fussy for a couple weeks now, first with the cold and now she’s teething (again), and I hit a wall last night.  She wouldn’t go to sleep no matter what we did, even after giving her Tylenol, so John finally just put her in her crib with her favorite blanket.  He checked on her after five minutes of crying and calmed her down a bit, then after another five minute stint she was out like a light!  I was shocked!  She’s been screaming bloody murder for 30 minutes to an hour every single night – and that’s with me holding her and attempting to console her – and some nights has refused to sleep until past midnight.  So for her to fall asleep after just ten minutes, and at a reasonable hour, was amazing.  I’m really hoping for a repeat tonight.  I *hate* leaving her alone to cry in her crib, but I have to think it’s the lesser of two evils here.  John wants to try putting her in her crib on her own for naps too, but I think we’ll tackle that when we get home from our trip.