Whoa 2011

The camera is broken at the moment.

Crystal is almost 10 months old. At her 9-month appointment, she measured 20 lbs, 4 oz, 30 inches long, and 17 1/2 around head. In other words, for her age, she is in the 75th percentile for weight, 98th percentile for height, and 40th percentile for head size.

I just bought Crystal's next car seat. Even though she meets the physical criteria for it, she's supposed to also be 1 years old. I'm just keeping it next to the door for a day when I can no longer squeeze her into her current belt.

Crystal got a diaper rash from sleeping in a poopy diaper after pooping in the middle of the night, so I've had her diaperless for the past couple of days for the rash to heal. Each day, she typically peed at least 5 times on the potty and twice on the floor.

I had apple slices on my lunch salad today. Yum!

You may think that being a stay-at-home mom would be boring, but it is quite the opposite. I am actually way busier now than I was when I was working and without the baby. For example, now I'm expected to do much of the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping, and with a baby on my hip, those things take longer. Also, the baby needs me to spend a lot time rocking and snuggling her.

Actually I can think of a time when I was even busier and that was when I was student teaching 4 years ago. I oftentimes stayed at the school until 5 entering grades and making parent phone calls and I feel asleep at 6pm right after dinner and woke myself up at 3am in order to type up lesson plans that were never finished. And I guess that I did all of that for 3 months for nothing since I got kicked out of the program for "poor performance." I thought that the method of assessing me was sort of wishy-washy and I never figured out how to play the game.

New year's resolutions?
1. Daily family scripture study: after dinner?
2. Get Steve a higher paying job. Need $40k+
3. Find a renter for the upstairs bedroom?
4. Plan a few trips to the temple: babysitter?
5. Learn the names of every person at church.
6. Either take inventory and organize or get rid of everything in basement/attic
7. Vegetable garden

Thrifty and Healthy!

Oh how do I love salad! It's one of the only things that makes a lunch actually makes me feel full and satisfied!

Wendy's tips for eating healthy:

1. Leave the chips and cakes at the store. When you get hungry mid-morning, there's nothing wrong with having a small lunch at 10:30 and then another lunch at 1:00 and then another lunch at 3:30.

2. Leave the ice cream at the store. When you're hankering for something sweet, reach for an apple! They are so sweet, crisp, and juicy!

3. Thirsty? Drink some water, duh! If you don't like the taste of plain, filtered water, there is something wrong with you and you need to get over it.

4. If you are really hungry and your only/fastest option is the nearest Burger King, then don't get fries and don't get a soda, instead: get both a burger and a chicken sandwich and a cup of water. Then, don't let it happen again by packing 4 granola bars in your purse/bag for the next eating emergency and think ahead before you leave anywhere and pack a sandwich and apple if you anticipate hunger.

5. Never go to any Olive Garden, TGIF Fridays, etc. unless you're celebrating something (3 times a year) and feel free to eat anything you want: just drink only water and don't get a dessert.

6. Go to the grocery store 2 times a week to ensure a continuous supply of fresh lettuce and bananas.

9 months

Moving wasn't as bad as I had feared it would be after all and living here isn't as bad either. The cons about living here are: not across the street from the store, is cold, higher utility costs, maintenance, yard work. Although it can be harder to live in a big house than in a small apartment, the extra space does give a little more freedom. I put the futon mattress on the floor in the baby's room and now I sleep with her or leave her in there sleeping without worrying that she'll fall off and hurt herself. Since the house is owned by a family member, we don't have to pay rent: we just have to pay the property taxes and utilities and help fix it up. And the family members that moved out left us some sweet furniture.

It would seem selfish to keep this big house to ourselves, so I would like to rent the upstairs bedroom to someone. The idea is kind of scary and it would have to be someone that we trust. Or, should I just keep it available for visiting family members?

Since it's pretty cold in the house, I have to keep some clothes on the baby. So now I only sit her on the potty whenever she wakes up in the morning or from a nap and whenever I change her diaper. Crystal is still getting taller, of course. The last time that I sat Crystal on a bathroom scale, she weighed 20 lbs. Her shots appointment is next week and hopefully it won't give her a fever this time. I think that I want to space my kids 3 years apart, what do you think?

8 Months

Crystal has been crawling for 1 1/2 months now and she now pulls herself to standing very easily. Before, she would pull herself up and get stuck, but now she can also easily lower herself! She can take a couple of steps while holding but prefers to get down and crawl in order to get somewhere. I keep trying to find a baby that has been crawling as early as she (at 6-7 months), but I haven't found one yet. Out of curiosity, have you found any babies like this? Tell me more about them! When do they start walking?

Crystal has two bottom teeth now and will get the top two teeth soon. She only nurses to sleep now and won't suck on her pacifier anymore and will only play with it, so she has officially graduated from the pacifier. I was afraid of having to force the pacifier away when she would turn one but now I don't have to worry about it. Now I am wondering about how she will relax herself in the future when there isn't nursing: whether it'll be difficult or whether it will come naturally.

She's getting better at picking up little things, like cherios, with her fingers but still needs more practice. She has just started practicing some more consonant sounds like "dadada" and she acts so silly when she does, smiling and with her tongue flapping.

I got tired of Crystal's diaper rashes about a month ago, so Crystal has been naked for most of the time that she's at home now. I've been sitting Crystal on the potty when she seems like she's about to pee. Though, since it requires me to watch her constantly, she often ends up going on the floor. Since it's more obvious when she needs to poop, we always make it to the potty for that. It's easy also because she poops at the same time every day: after she wakes up in the morning. Hopefully, now she'll transition easily to going to the potty on her own in a few months.

I had been continuing to let her go in her diaper while we sleep at night and taking off the over-full diaper in the morning until last night when I tried sitting her on the potty (that I kept next to the bed) throughout the night. Each time we awoke, she wouldn't nurse until after she went pee anyways. It surprisingly went smoother than making her go in her diaper, since she peed more quickly when I sat her on the potty than when she was laying on her back in a diaper. We woke up a 5 am this morning and I actually felt rested! The potty had so much urine in it--I can't believe that the diaper had been holding so much before.

Other news: Steve has been sanding the floors in the house for these past few days. He may have to take another day or two off of work to finish the project. We're moving on the 27th.

About photo: Crystal was a dinosaur for Halloween and we took her trick-or-treating!