Feeding Time

Now that Little L is eating baby food, feeding time has gotten more entertaining.  She is so excited to eat, that she moves her little arms like crazy.  Usually, she is a great eater and doesn't waste a bite.  However, with her "crazy arms" some goes flying. 

This morning, she woke up at 4:15 hungry.  I wiped her nose, changed her diaper (to her giggling and smiling), and sat on the couch to feed her.  For her bottles, I lean her back against my body for her to eat.  This cuts down on her gassiness and reduced her spit up (most of the time).  She was holding her pacifier in her right hand as I held the bottle.  At one point, she pushed the bottle out of the way so that she could put the pacifier into her mouth.  A minute or so later, she took it out and let the bottle go back in. 

Five minutes later, she pushed the bottle out again and put the pacifier back in.  I waited and waited and waited.  She had fallen asleep!!!  Now as a mom feeding in the middle of the night, you are faced with a question.  Do you move her to her bed and risk waking her?  Do you let her sleep and try to sleep sitting up yourself?  After a few more minutes to ensure that she was asleep, I moved her back to her bed.  I crawled into bed thinking, "I can sleep for one more hour!"  I was wrong.  I was wide awake and already thinking about school today (The 8th graders should be worried!). 

So, I came into the living room and wrote a blog.  At least I was productive with my time.  :)

Day of Chesed

I have been writing this post in my head since last Wednesday.  With Hanukkah, my parents in town for the weekend, etc. I just haven't gotten to it.  Chesed is basically kindness.  It is helping others, raising awareness, and the like.

My morning started like every other, with our family rushing out the door at 6:54 (give or take a minute) to load up our cars and head to work.  As I was kissing D goodbye on the passenger side of the car, Husband told me that there was a "fairly large dog" next to his driver's side door.  He said that the dog was "friendly enough".  We decided that we had to track down the owners because we know how we felt when our dog got out.  So, husband called the number on the tags and we waited for the dog's owner to come.  The owner lived about 8 houses down.

We were a little late leaving for work (about 15 minutes), but I started my day off feeling good.  When I arrived at work, the middle school was having a Chesed prep day for their Chesed fair this past Sunday.  They had a parade of events going on throughout the day and the students got to sign up for what breakout sessions they wanted.  Since I only had a handful of classes, I offered to take pictures.  I was able to capture these touching moments where the middle-schoolers put their needs aside for others.  They created mobiles for the Hanukkah party, cooked food for a local shelter, recorded themselves reading books for children in the hospital, helped decorate the schools' Chanukiah, worked with Kindergartners on their menorahs, read with first graders, and helped make the campus shine.  I was blessed to spend even part of my day with the amazing students doing for others.

After I got home, we made a quick trip to the grocery store.  As I was getting out, I noticed that a woman was sitting in her car with the hood up.  The car wasn't starting!  Husband offered to jump the car, and the woman was ever so appreciative.  I felt like my entire day was surrounded by doing for others.  What a great way to spend a Wednesday!

Menacing Red Lights

Last night I was tormented by a row of lit up red lights.  Seeing those lights and hearing the cry that went along with them, tore me up inside.  Not because I felt bad for the crying child on the other end, but because it meant that for one more night, the baby and I were not sleeping straight through the night.  Since she got sick about a month ago, Little L has stopped sleeping through the night.  She wakes up between 2 and 3 in the morning to be fed.  Usually, this means that I am up feeding her for about half an hour and then we both go back to sleep.  Last night was different.

She woke up at 2.  I changed her, fed her, and attempted to put her back to sleep.  She wasn't having any of it.  Little L decided that it was "waking up time" (in the words of D).  After fussing, crying, and whining, I thought she wasn't feeling well.  So, I took her temperature.  That wasn't it.  She was drooling like you wouldn't believe, so I tried Orajel.  No go.  I held her, I tried to put her back to bed.  Nothing worked.  Finally, I let her play. 

For the next two hours, Little L played and played and played until she wore herself out.  I on the other hand had been worn out since she woke up at 2.  Oy!  After I put her to bed at 4, I sat on the couch and watched those menacing lights dance up and down the monitor.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity (it was probably only 5 minutes but every second took forever at that time of day), the lights stopped blinking.  The soft music in her room played, but no crying accompanied it.

What a terrible, sleepless night.  I will be heading to bed in a few minutes in case we have a repeat from last night.  I have already prayed that Little L gets her rest and feels good.  And maybe I can get a full night's sleep as well.

Sick Day and making a Lapbook

Little L is sick again.  I am blessed to work at an amazing school.  Yesterday was parent/teacher conferences.  As the computer teacher, I didn't have a lot of parents ask me for a conference.  So, I packed up the baby and she came with me.  The head of school and assistant head of school are so supportive.  While there, I went ahead and made sub lesson plans. 

Then, L and I headed over to a friend's house to bake for my brother's upcoming wedding.  It was a great day and evening with good friends, good baked goods, and good laughs!  Little L actually slept through the night and slept late this morning!!!  I was so worried that I checked on her three times before she woke up at 8:30!!! She woke up smiling and fever free.  Since I am home with her today, I decided to take time to make D a new lapbook.  Carisa at 1+1+1=1 has created an amazing website (and a blog) that she created as a homeschooling parent.  The lapbooks, which I have spoken about before, are great resources and D learns through play all the time.  She has about 4 lapbooks including Cinderella and Brown Bear. 

She has the entire week off of school next week for Thanksgiving.  So, husband will be home with the girls for most of the week while I work.  To make the time a little easier, I decided to make a Thanksgiving lapbook for D.  Once it has been introduced, D can do a lot of it by herself.  She has a bag of lapbooks that she pulls out and plays with, so I am excited to have some time to create a new one for her bag.  Once I create it, I will post pictures.

Terrible Misnomer

The phrase "Terrible Twos" is a misnomer.  D was pretty good as a two year old.  She had issues, don't get me wrong, but they were manageable.  If she got into trouble, we would tell her to go to time out and she would walk there.  Now, when we ask her to go to time out, we are met with "NO!", fits, and running away.

For the first time in a LONG time, D had a meltdown.  This meltdown was a fall to the floor, kicking, screaming, all out meltdown.  As if that wasn't bad enough, it was in the library!  OY!!  We got on her level and tried to talk to her, which just elevated the noise level of the crying.  Finally, husband swooped in, picked her up, and carried her out to the car.  After about 10 minutes, she was finally calm enough to talk it out, but it was a beating.

I want  to write to all of the mommies out there who are in the two year old phase and thinking, "This is no big deal."  You are right.  This is no big deal, this is the calm before the storm.  Just watch out for the "Terrible Threes"!!!

Prima Ballerina

D has wanted to take ballet for about a year now.  We held off because we didn't think she needed an extracurricular activity before she turned 3.  Well, she turned 3 and kept asking to take "bal-le-le" as she called it.  We looked at our city's community center and viola, they have classes for her age for a reasonable price.  We bought her a leotard, tights, ballet slippers, and tap shoes.  Now, the attention span of a three year old is short, but she LOVES ballet and tap.  Tomorrow will be her third class, and we are already looking to sign her up for the next session.  She gets so excited to go to dance class.  She knows that Tuesdays I pick the girls up from school and take them to dance class.  Little L and I play in the hallway outside the room (and I only peek in the window a few times). 

Yesterday, we asked D to play with Little L while we made dinner.  We came in to the girls playing dress up.  D was sharing her purses and necklaces with Little L.  Pictures had to be taken.



 It was too cute!!!  I hope they always enjoy playing together like they did yesterday.

Food Inc.

I am NOT granola in any way.  I am not a free spirit, I am not into yoga, and I am not a vegetarian.  So, why did I have to say that?  On Sunday morning, I taught a Religious School class.  The class was on overconsumption.  During the first part of the class, I was feeling good about the choices I make.  I buy clothes about once a month for my children and less often for my husband and I.  I drink from a reusable water bottle.  I leave some items plugged in even when they are not being used (lamps, baby monitor, cell phone charger), but for the most part, most of my outlets are empty. 

Then, the next part of the class was on a movie called Food Inc.  Now, I am an animal lover.  I have a dog, and a cat.  I have had numerous pets throughout my life including a bunny, hermit crabs, mice, and dwarf hamsters.  Seeing the way the animals we eat are raised disgusted me.  The 8th and 9th graders were horrified (even the "tough guys").  These animals are living in gross, overpopulated conditions where they cannot move.  I am not going to go into details, but I highly recommend watching the film.  If you want, there is a discussion guide you can download to go with it.  Go to: Food Inc. to learn more.

So, I called husband on the way home.  I told him the highlights and lowlights of the movie.  I will be researching Kosher laws to see if the way the animal was raised is included in the laws.  It is a helpless feeling to feel like you have no control.  But, as the creator of the movie stated, I can vote with my fork.  I will research where my food is coming from.  Nothing God created deserves the living (and dying) conditions of the animals I saw.