Daily Picture

I was sitting in bed this morning feeding Katrina when I glanced over a noticed a huge bug on the wall about a foot from my head. It was one of the centipede like things we get sometimes. If it had been a normal one I would have jumped a little, asked Adam to kill it, and possibly moved away from the wall. But no, this one was at least two inches long and really thick too. I jumped, shrieked, and was instantly on the opposite corner of the bed, where Adam's feet were. He woke up in a panic, thinking I had dropped the baby. She was a little startled but thought it was all kind of fun. I ran with the baby to get the fly swatter for Adam but when I got back he had dispatched the intruder and all was well. I still had him check behind the bed for more and finished nursing in the middle of the bed, but I felt much better as soon as it was gone. My hero!



I often take pictures of the baby and send them to Adam at work. Yesterday he asked why he didn't get his daily picture, so I made sure to take some this morning. Unfortunately she was squirmy and determined to be as unphotogenic as possible. I deleted the worst ones, but I thought I'd share these, weird as they are.

Lovely, huh?

So I have to admit something. I've always been above watching or voting for those reality tv shows. But last night I voted for my two favorite dancers on So You Think You Can Dance. And it was fun. Adam usually watches it with me from his desk and he enjoys it too. Next week is the finale! Whoo-hoo!

I need a hobby

I went with Adam to mutual tonight. Even though the deacons are at Scout Camp, someone had to take care of the priests. So Adam went along to watch them play basketball (aren't young men the same everywhere?). I decided that I was super bored of being at home and checking my friends' blogs for updates every hour or so (it was a really boring day), so I went with him. The baby's bedtime is 8:00 so I knew it could be a problem, but I'm glad I went because I was able to get a lot of walking in. I rarely take the baby on walks since it's so hot, so I barely get any exercise. I went around the neighborhood and then around the church a few times. Adam looked utterly bored. The church wasn't air-conditioned, so it was a little miserable, and then the baby got fussy because she has gotten used to an eight o'clock bedtime. But I'm still glad I was able to get out of the house.

Today was the day of small projects and lots of naps. Katrina is getting better and better at taking naps. For those of you who know how much I've stressed over this, you can appreciate this small victory. It seems like half the time I would be either nursing the baby or sitting there with her sleeping on me since that's the only way she would sleep during the day. But now I can just put her in her crib, close the blinds (that's the key), and leave her. She'll cry, but in less than five minutes she's calm and sucking on her thumb, and sleep quickly follows. She also nurses less often because she can fall asleep without it. I had so much time and nothing to do. I used to watch a lot of tv, but now I really only watch it at night or occasionally while nursing. I may start a sewing project or something. Today I organized some random things, unpacked a couple of straggler boxes, and made a delicious dinner. It was just chicken alfredo, but I made the alfredo sauce from scratch, and it was awesome. I think I will never buy another alfredo sauce packet again. Plus, there's leftovers. I didn't get my daily cleaning chore done, but I did do laundry. I like laundry. I hate vacuuming and cleaning tubs.

Tomorrow, at least, I have something to do. Adam's dad has a data-entry task that needs to be done for his latest test prep book that he's written. It involves Excel and searching a PDF document--basically my specialty. It's the sort of thing that I've had to do for so many of my campus jobs. Even though I know nothing about municipal bonds, I am confident I can help out a lot. Apparently it's pretty important, so I'm going to get as much done as I can.

Why do people think my head is big?

Bored on Sunday

I post a lot, but that's because I get bored often and don't have a hobby. Plus, my family won't see the baby in person for a really long time, so this way they can get a glimpse of the cuteness I get to see everyday. This is why I'm posting a relatively boring video. She doesn't do much in it, but she's changed so much since anyone out West has seen her, so I decided to post it anyway.

Also, I had to get a picture of this:

"Mommy, why won't these go in my mouth too?"

Jumperoo

Last night we headed down to Philadelphia to pick up a new toy for Katrina that I located off of Craigslist. We bought it from a Russian-speaking Ukrainian family. We hadn't brought cash and they didn't accept checks, so we quickly drove to the nearest Wawa (to those of you who haven't ever heard of Wawa, it's basically a convenience store, but cooler than 7-Eleven) with the dad. He didn't speak any English. I spoke to him a little in Russian and it was fun. I was surprised how natural it felt. Maybe I haven't forgotten as much as I thought!

Anyway, Katrina's new toy is called a Jumperoo. She's still a little young for it, but we tried it out anyway this morning and she loved it.

There's still one problem though.

Her feet don't touch the ground! We found a way to fix it.

I actually prefer her to not touch the ground at the moment because when she pushes off, her head bounces around a little. I stuffed a blanket behind her to support her and that took care of it, but I think she needs to grow into her head a bit more before she can really use the jumperoo.

The nursery is done!

Adam's mom and grandma came over today and did the wallpaper border! We picked up a valance for the window and everything is complete. I think it looks great! The only thing left is to paint our dresser white and put her clothes in it. However, that would leave us without a dresser for ourselves, so for now her clothes are in this bizarre hanging storage thing in the closet. Anyway, here are the pictures.

One fist, two fists, red fist, blue fist

What's the only thing better than one hand in the mouth?

Two thumbs! At the same time!

And sometimes a penguin (she likes his beak, especially).

And lastly, I had to take a picture of the momentous occasion when Katrina grabbed this toy on her bouncer for the first time, though I don't think she quite realized what was going on. She gets a little baffled when she grabs something and can't stuff it in her mouth because it's attached to something else (like my knuckles). See how her mouth is open? The hinges of her jaws are attached to her hands. When her hands grip something, her mouth opens in preparation.

New stages

Everyone has said that at three months old Katrina would blossom and become a lot more interesting. I think it began at about two and a half months. She really is a lot more fun to interact with now than she used to be, mostly because she follows us with her eyes and coos and gargles and babbles at us. Also, she is fully into what Freud called the "oral phase" (a nod to my Child Development class) of her development--yes, everything goes into the mouth now. I used to know she was hungry because she would stick her fingers in her mouth and root around at things. Now she can't go two minutes without stuffing both hands into her mouth and grabbing anything close to shove that in too. Like my knuckles, my nose, burp cloths, blankets... I tried giving her a teething toy since she's drooling a lot and I know that precedes teething, but she really had no interest. Since she is so fixated on her hands, I just have to make sure I clean her hands regularly.

We have been establishing a bedtime of 8 for her and it's actually working! And even better, the last two nights she has gone happily to bed and slept until 7. It's wonderful. Now if we could just move our bedtime to 8 as well, then Adam and I would be getting enough sleep finally too.

We are wallpapering soon, and once that is done I'll post pictures of her room. Everything is settling down. There are only a few more boxes left to unpack, and mostly I just move them from room to room to storage closet. The storage closet has several boxes that we haven't unpacked, but mostly it's stuff like my junk from when I was at home. I want to keep some and get rid of some, but don't want to go through it.

Also, I have made dinner two nights in a row and have plans for both tonight and tomorrow! I had gotten out of the habit of making dinner regularly, so this is good. Last night I made an Indian chicken curry that was wonderful, even though I had to substitute like half of the ingredients (evaporated milk for coconut milk, garlic powder for garlic cloves, spaghetti sauce for tomato paste, and lemon yogurt for plain yogurt and lemon juice). It was delicious and I wish I had made extra. Food is so expensive these days. Partly it's because everything seems to be more expensive out here than in Utah, and partly it's because of the economy, but I seem to pay a good $40 more on average each grocery trip than I did before the move. At least we don't have baby food yet, but that's coming soon, yikes.

Money, Money, Money

I, unfortunately, really like to spend money. I didn't really discover this tendency of mine until I was in Russia and absolutely loved to look for souvenirs. However, I don't like just throwing tons of money away on a purchase; I am a bargain shopper. I'm not as good as my mom, who finds three-dollar skirts. Actually, I don't really like clothes shopping, so I'm not much of a bargain shopper when it comes to clothes, since I don't have the patience to shop and shop until I find a good deal. Usually I shop at a few stores, get frustrated, and come home without anything.

But when it comes to gifts, furniture, or other things, I absolutely love to spend money. Internet shopping is a wonderful thing. I'm really good at finding things really cheap, as well as finding things that have the best reviews. I really prefer to buy a product that has good reviews. Adam likes internet shopping too, so at Christmastime, we buy the majority of our gifts for each other and family members off of the internet, usually Amazon.com. I also love Craigslist and Target. I got a huge lot of baby clothes for Katrina for like $30, which would have bought maybe three outfits at BabiesRUs. I recently located a tall bookcase for us for $25 on Craigslist, and later on found several at even cheaper prices that we probably would have bought if it hadn't been so difficult to fit the first one in the car. I also found the ad for the DVD shelves we just bought and located the cabinets online that we ended up buying on Target (they were even on sale when we got there!).

The point is, I no longer have anything to shop for, and I'm a little sad. We bought the crib, changing table, bookcases, food cabinets, and painted the baby's room. Basically, all that's left is stuff that we don't intend on buying for at least several months, like the bedrooms set and dining room table and chairs.

At least this tendency of mine is not out of control. I don't go out and spend all of my husband's hard-earned paycheck! But I do know that I have this weakness of loving to buy things and so I'm careful.

Oooh, I just remembered, our anniversary is in a month! That means I can at least be looking for a present for Adam! :]

Apartment--->Home

Today was a fun-filled day (fun for me, at least!). Adam's sister Emily and mother came over to help us paint the nursery. It took all day and is, unfortunately, not quite finished. We had to go get more paint, and by the time we had gotten paint, wandered around the hardware store lusting after things, wandered around the pet store lusting after pets, stopped by Target to pick up some cabinets for food, and finished it off with Mistos at Rita's, we were pretty dead tired. So the second coat of yellow will have to wait until Monday. Yesterday we also picked up a set of shelves for DVDs and CDs. We managed to fit all of our books onto our three bookcases, hooray! It's nice to organize our apartment a little more. Oh, and we looked up the name of our apartment complex and in means "home" in French. We really like that. Our apartment really is feeling more and more like home as we personalize and accessorize it. After all, we're here indefinitely, so we might as well enjoy it!

I didn't actually do any painting, or really anything except watch the baby and pick up lunch, but I'm not that into painting. I enjoyed watching and talking! The baby was fussy and hungry all day anyway, so I was fairly busy, but I didn't do much work. The room stinks of paint fumes, even with the window wide open, so I'm not sure how I feel about the baby sleeping there tonight. She napped today on our bed, but I think it would be a long, uncomfortable night with all of us in there!

I'll post pictures of the completed project next week. Right now the yellow on top and striped green on bottom are pretty bright, but I think that it will all look better when we get the border up in the center. I'll also be happy to get the changing table, piano keyboard, and various boxes out of our room.

1930's spouse test

72 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

135 As a 1930s husband, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Flies

I have killed over 20 60 flies today.

I am so grossed out that I can't eat. I killed the last four or five with the fly swatter in one hand and the baby in the other! The apartment office said that the exterminator will come next Wednesday, and Adam is going to pick up some fly traps today after work. I'm also homebound, since Adam has the car and the car has the stroller. I could put the baby in her wrap and leave, but we're starting a heat wave. Luckily, I can handle flies. If it were spiders or millipedes or crickets or ants, it would be so much worse. Flies, I can kill without too much squeamishness. I just leave them lying everywhere for Adam to clean up, since that grosses me out too much. I could vacuum them up, but that wakes the baby up if she's napping. Basically, I ignore the flies unless they leave the dining room window. Then I pick up the swatter and chase it, which usually leads back to the window, where I then try to kill all of the new flies. We think they might be coming out of the ventilation.

Only four more hours until Adam comes home with the fly traps.

Lord of the Flies

We have a lot more bugs here than we had in Utah. Dead bugs, because they fumigated before we moved in, and live bugs, because the Lord wants me to overcome my phobia. Adam kills them for me, but there are still way too many for my comfort. The worst are the millipedes, yuck.

Luckily we bought a fly swatter last week. I killed a couple this morning, which disturbed me because I haven't opened any windows or the sliding door for awhile and our front door is only accessible after going through two other doors, a staircase, and a hallway. Well, Adam called me today and offered to cook this evening, which made me happy. He was getting dinner ready and I was waiting for the baby to wake up when I noticed a couple of flies and asked him to get them. We noticed at the same time that there were like thirty of them around the dining room window and several around the living room window. Ughh! I don't mind flies and they're one of the few bugs that I'm alright with killing, but that was gross! Adam went to town with the swatter and I got out the vacuum to suck up the dead ones and try to get some live ones too. Basically I was freaking out as quietly and calmly as possible. I have a fear of bugs going in my ears, so I was dancing around trying to cover my ears from the flies around my head while sucking them up. I really felt like my skin was crawling. Ugh. Adam told me to leave and take the baby with me, so I took her outside and went for a walk with the stroller. He called me when he was done.

Unfortunately, it's probably our fault. We had a bunch of trash in bags in the kitchen for a few days because last time we tried to take it out, the dumpster was filled. Also, we have three boxes of food on the floor that we don't have room for in our cupboards. The other day I was sweeping (I actually keep the kitchen pretty clean, so we're not slobs or anything) and got upset because I found a couple of maggots when I was trying to sweep it up. I have no idea where they came from, since the kitchen isn't that big and I couldn't see, and I didn't really want to get down on hands and knees and stick my nose in a bunch of maggots. So, today the eggs must have hatched. Again, ughh. While I was writing this Adam had to go over and kill like five or six more. We took out the trash and we still need to go through the food in the boxes. I'm really apprehensive because I don't want to wake up with hundreds of flies in our house. At least Adam took care of them and let me take the baby and run. Plus, even though she hadn't eaten in three hours, when she woke up and I took her for a walk, she didn't even cry or make a noise the whole time we were gone, and then she let me eat dinner before feeding her. By that time, it was already time for her to go to bed, which she did without a fuss.

So, that's our drama-filled evening. I'm still really on edge. Unfortunately, we can't close our bedroom doors because they're both put on their frames funny, so I can't even keep the flies out of the rest of the house! No fair. But lots of kudos go to my lovely husband who saved the day for me!

I love growth spurts

Okay, so I love growth spurts. Katrina's that is. Why? Because she sleeps! Pretty much each growth spurt has a couple phases. The first seems to be the extra fussy phase/eats all the time stage. Then comes the sleeps all the time stage. That's what I love. The past few days have been extra fussy and sometimes I have to feed her every hour and a half or so, or even more often if she falls asleep and then wakes up a short time later hungry. Today seems to be the sleepy phase. I love it because I get things done, feel rested, and generally like life better.

Actually, I'm not positive that she's going through her growth spurt yet or was just extra fussy, but I sure don't mind the extra sleeping. I've been trying to figure out naps for her and things are frustrating. I typically try to put her down an hour and a half after she woke up, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Usually that's when she's definitely sleepy, but then she'll only sleep for about twenty minutes and then wake up, which leaves me very frustrated. Also, I really want her to be on a more definite schedule, so I've been recording what times she eats for the last several weeks, trying to figure out what her natural schedule is and then going from there. This is mostly just because on Sundays she has to eat at 11:30 during sacrament meeting, and I'd like her eventually to have a predictable schedule that includes eating at that time every day. Besides that, there's really no reason for me to be trying to put her on a schedule this young, since I stay at home all day and can be way flexible. I've always heard that babies thrive on schedules, but they grow so much during these young months that you can't insist on a certain timetable because sometimes they really need to eat more than you plan. Oh, and I'm way lucky that she sleeps 8-10 hour stretches at night now. I'd like to put her down and get her up every day at the same time, but I don't really know what're the optimal times for both her and us.

I guess I shouldn't worry too much. Most Sundays up to this point, I've ended up feeding her in Sacrament meeting and she's been just fine. So I should probably just chill and wait a little longer. I'll just worry about one thing at a time, like getting her up at the same time, or putting her to bed at the same time, and let everything else fall into place.

Oh yes, pictures. That was why I wanted to post to begin with!

We're painting her bedroom this Saturday. I'll have to take pictures when we're finished in there. We've also bought a new changing table and want to paint our dresser white to put in her room. We have no plans to decorate anywhere else in the house, just her room! I hope it turns out well.

Junior Primary wisdom

Adam and I successfully gave our talks today on patriotism. The baby sat happily in her carseat and then on Adam's lap until I was done speaking. She was so good today, which was really convenient because Adam had to take her for both hours. Both the Stake President and the Bishop offered to take her out and hold her if she became fussy. I thought that was pretty funny.

Yesterday Adam passed another licensing exam. Yes, this is his fifth. He has plans to take three more in the next few months. This one, the Series 55, was required for his new job, so it was especially important. The next three are all just nice for him to have, but not nearly as important as yesterday's test. We're both relieved to have it over, as well as our talks.

I play piano for both Junior Primary and Senior Primary. Neither are very large; today there were nine in Junior and twelve in Senior. During Sharing Time the kids learned about missionary work, and during Singing Time they learned a new song to sing for Pioneer Day. Since I just lurk behind the piano and no one can see me, I started writing down the funny responses of the kids.

Chorister: "Does anyone know what July 24th is?"
Kid: "Ooo, ooo, fireworks!"
"No, you're thinking of July 4th."
"Someone's birthday?"
"Yes, it's probably someone's birthday."
"A party!"
"No, not a party."
"The Fourth of July!"
"No, that's July 4th."

Chorister: "Who knows what the word pioneer means?"
Kid: "An army!"

Counselor in Presidency, reading a situation: "You and your friends have been playing all morning. You see a new girl sitting in her driveway across the street watching you. What should you do?"
Kid: "True!"
"..."
"Play!"

Counselor: "Maybe this little girl is new, or visiting relatives, and maybe she's too shy to ask you herself if she can play with you."
Little boy in a very matter-of-fact voice: "You know, I'm shy too."

Four-year-old boy: "Is it going to be my turn?" This is only funny because he said about every thirty seconds for the whole activity and said it in exactly the same intonation every single time, and yet the counselor managed to ignore him while she taught and didn't pull his name out of the jar until last. I would have given in after like the tenth time instead of waiting for his name to come out of the jar. Good thing I can giggle and no one sees me.

Counselor, reading another situation: "A couple looks at their finances and doesn't have enough money to pay their bills if they pay their tithing. What should they do?"
Kids: "Earn more money!" "Do chores."
Finally, "Pay their tithing!"
And my favorite, "And the Lord will tell the prophet, who will tell the missionaries, who will go tell the Bishop, who will go to their house and give them oil!" I love the hierarchy of authority there.

Final story. Counselor: "Your friends ask you to go to a movie with them that is inappropriate. What should you do?"
Little boy: "Don't go! Don't go because they'll bite you. They'll bite you on the arm. They're aliens! They're aliens and they'll bite you..." At this point a teacher finally hushed him.

After Junior Primary, Senior Primary was practically boring because all of the children just sat there and listened, novel idea. I was ready to write down any funny things, but the closest was a girl saying, "A pioneer is someone who goes on a pilgrimage," which isn't nearly as exciting as "An army!" I'll probably keep writing things down each week since they're fun to share with Adam and I thought other people would get a laugh too.

Practice time

Third post in a day? Yep. I just have to put these pictures up. It just can't wait until tomorrow, sorry. :]

This is how I managed to get some piano playing in for the day.

Better note

I know I already posted today, but this is just to reassure anyone feeling too sorry for me that the baby finally fell asleep and in the last two hours or so I have come up with most of my talk. It's still a little unorganized and weird, but I have a lot of stuff. Our topic is patriotism. My talk is focusing on why the gospel was restored in this country and Adam's is on how to be a good citizen. We'll see how it goes on Sunday.

Guess who just woke up? Yep. Well, anyway, now that I have so much done on my talk, I don't feel guilty about starting Harry Potter 6 while feeding her. :]

I feel like whining too

So Katrina isn't old enough to whine yet, but I am a champion whiner, with plenty of practice from when I was a kid. And I am in a very whiny mood right now. Here goes:

Katrina refuses to take naps during the day unless I nurse her to sleep, and even then she wakes up half an hour later or as soon as I move her. Sometimes she stays asleep but only on the boppy; if I move her to the crib she wakes up. I have to prepare a talk for Sunday that I really don't want to give, and I haven't worked on it at all because I have been reading in my spare time. I really want to start on the sixth Harry Potter book but have forbidden myself to do that until I finish this talk. Like I said, she won't stay asleep, so no work is getting done. Plus I need to practice the piano for Sunday and can't when she's asleep because I think the noise, even with the headphones on, would wake her up since the keyboard is in the same room as her. I want to eat but can't leave her long enough to get anything other than brief snacks. She's nursing every hour and a half or so because she only eats on one side before falling asleep. When she's awake I can't leave her in a bouncer or swing--I have to entertain her because she is so tired from not napping that she's super fussy. So mostly I just walk around with her or nurse her or sit with her asleep on me. She could be going through her three-month growth spurt, but it really just feels like she's just being stubborn and sleepy. I think her growth spurt won't be for another week or so. Oh, and Adam has to take a licensing exam tomorrow that he's super stressed about, plus writing his own talk and preparing a lesson for the deacons, so I have a potentially grumpy husband this weekend, depending on how he does on his test. And he can't really help take care of her because he has all that stuff to do, so I don't get my usual break tonight. On Sunday I have to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting and play during both of the other hours in Primary, so when will I feed the baby? Adam's mom will be there to take care of her, but she can't feed her unless I pump, and I can never pump enough to make the baby happy. There's always formula, which I'll probably resort to, but that's just another thing to worry about.

On a happier note, we finally got our stimulus check. Hooray. We were supposed to have it sent in the first mailing and it wasn't, then it was delayed because we moved.

But despite how I sound right now, life really isn't all that bad, and it certainly will be better after this weekend is over (our first paycheck is next week!), but occasionally I just have to let off some steam. I don't really mind nursing nonstop anyway, since it doesn't hurt anymore. If it weren't for the talk, I wouldn't care about her not napping well, since at least she sleeps through the night most nights. We're lucky to have a good sleeper. I may not be this lucky when the next baby comes along.

Little Things

Sometimes the little things are so much fun. Today Adam got a bookshelf for us, and I got so much enjoyment from filling it up with books and organizing them alphabetically by author's last name. I had to sneak in and out of the baby's room because she was already asleep and I didn't want to wake her while moving stacks of books. There's still plenty for me to take care of tomorrow since I couldn't climb all over the place without making too much noise. I think we may need another large bookcase, mainly because I have so many fiction books! We're lucky to have the bookcase, since Adam had to transport it from Philadelphia in the back of our car, with the trunk open and no ropes holding it down. Then I tried to help him move it in the house and it was too much on my back, so he hauled it in by himself and luckily didn't pull any muscles or anything.

Also, we just got done watching So You Think You Can Dance. I never have gotten into American Idol or any of those sort of talent search shows. I liked watching Dancing With the Stars sometimes, but not regularly. This year though, I watched So You Think You Can Dance once and thought it was interesting, then watched it again when Natasha came and have been hooked ever since. My favorites are Kherrington and Twitch and Gev and Kourtnee, but tonight I really liked Katee and Josh. They did this really fun Bollywood dance that was rather impressive.

Last night Katrina went to bed at 8:00 and woke up at 7:00! I was excited about that, but I think it was because she was so lethargic from her shots. Today she slept most of the day too. So while sleeping through the night is always cause for celebration, I won't be surprised if it doesn't last.

Crib and shots

We got a crib last night for the baby! "We" being Adam, since we knew that a crib couldn't fit in the car unless we took out the baby's seat, so she and I stayed home. We were also supposed to get a bookshelf last night, but that's changed to tomorrow. So for now, I just keep shifting piles of books around the room as necessary. Adam picked out all of the accessories for the crib. Didn't he do a good job?

We plan on putting a froggy themed border around the middle of the wall and painting the room yellow and green as well. We think that Katrina's first words may be "I hate frogs!" with all of the frog-themed things we've been giving her--blankets, stuffed animals, sheets, etc.

Today I took Katrina to the doctor for her two-month checkup a month late. We were without insurance for a month, so I'm glad she didn't get sick. Other than a bit of an eye problem (tearing and oozing, yuck), she's perfectly fine, and it's normal for babies to have plugged tear ducts, apparently. She started screaming while the doctor was checking her ("wow, she has quite the scream, doesn't she?) and of course continued when the nurse gave her FIVE shots in her thighs. Poor girl. I smelled the alcohol when the nurse swabbed her and was immediately brought back to those days when I hated shots more than anything in the world and my mom had to drag me and the chair I was clinging to into the doctor's office. I hated shots so much back then. I was dreading what the rest of the day would be like, since I've heard how shots can mess up babies' dispositions for days. However, as soon as I lifted her in my arms and held her, she stopped crying. I think she was in too much shock at what had just happened. She slept in the car and I even decided to pick up some food and bring Adam lunch since she was doing so well. She even was fine when she woke up, and just looked at us like nothing traumatizing had just happened. I count my blessings!

Edited to add: We also found out her official numbers: 11.5 lbs, 23.25 inches, 16 inches head circumference. She's in the 40th percentile for weight, 55th for length, and 75th for head. I always tell Adam that she has a really big head, and it looks like I was correct!

So I put her down for her first nap in her big crib. I'm confident that the transition will actually be fairly easy for her, probably easier than for us!

New callings

Adam and I were sustained and set apart in our new callings today. I am the Primary pianist and Adam is the 2nd counselor in Young Mens/Deacon Advisor/Assistant Scout Master. We both ended up going to our new organizations today. I went to Primary to observe the previous pianist and see how everything worked, but ended up playing anyway. I'm a bit rusty, but I can sightread fairly well, so it was fine. It's interesting because the last time that I was primary pianist, we only had nursery-aged kids, so I only had to play ten minutes. It actually isn't all that different now, just that the kids are actually involved in the music. Adam went to the deacons quorum and starts teaching next week. Also, we have been asked to speak next week on patriotism. It'll only be my second talk ever that's not a youth talk.

We're both excited about our callings, but for me the biggest stress is figuring out what to do with the baby. Today Adam's parents came to our ward and his mom could take the baby during Relief Society, but that won't work normally. Luckily, a couple of women have offered to help me take care of the baby, so I think that Adam will take her during Sunday School and then hand her off to the bishop's wife or other willing woman. I just have to make sure I feed her during Sacrament Meeting.

This week we'll buy a crib and start putting together the nursery!

Long Weekends

I absolutely have loved this weekend. For us, it began halfway through Thursday when Adam got off early and continued through yesterday when we went to New Jersey to celebrate the Fourth. Then today, we slept in, went to Babies 'R' Us to look at cribs, got water ices at Rita's, and went shopping at KMart for some basic household miscellania. We decided on a crib, which makes us very excited. We didn't get it today, since we weren't positive about it when we were there, but we'll be back early in the week to get it and all of the random bedding, bumpers, and mattress. We're also going to get a bookcase from someone on Craigslist on Monday. It's exciting to be making this apartment into even more of a home. I am sad, however, to move the baby from her bassinet at the foot of our bed to a crib in her own bedroom. I suppose we could put the crib in our room, but she'll need to be in her own room eventually, so we might as well move her now and make it easier. But I'll still miss being able to listen to her talking to herself after being fed and see her little feet sticking up above the edge of the bassinet as she kicks as hard as she can. That's one of the main reasons we have to move her--she kick so hard that the entire bassinet shakes.

The main reason I have loved this weekend, however, is that Adam is home and we get to spend time together. We've always been lucky in that we have always had similar schedules for school and work, and he even worked from home after the baby was born, so we got to spend lots of time together. I have really missed that since we moved to PA.

We took some cute pictures this weekend. Here is Katrina discovering her thumb. She has become quite good at soothing herself with it.

This was yesterday at Adam's parents' house in Jersey, with Katrina being entertained by her grandmother.

She was given a new balloon while in Jersey and thought it was quite fun to have control over two balloons.

She also gets really hungry sometimes and hogs the food.

And finally, she has already shown what kind of teenager she's going to be in this picture.

Cutest videos yet

Here are two videos taken from today. In the first, I tried to catch Katrina sucking her thumb. It's a skill she's attempted repeatedly but has only recently perfected. It's been nice because she can soothe herself to sleep easier and faster than with a pacifier. And it's way cute.

In this second video, I gave Katrina a balloon to play with that I noticed she liked to look at. The results are extremely cute, as you can see. She absolutely loved it! The balloon entertained her for a long time. I love the fact that she probably had no idea that she was the one holding the balloon string and making it move.

I'm finally feeling better. I can actually take care of myself and the baby, novel idea. Plus, today Adam got off work early. The NYSE closed at 1:00 for the holiday. Adam thinks that they don't usually close early on July 3, but that they just wanted a long weekend! We don't have any set plans for celebrating the 4th other than going to New Jersey, but it's nice even just to have a long weekend. Well, for him. Every day is the same for me!

Breed 'em young

There are certain things that you don't reveal to your significant other until after marriage and it's too late for them to call you crazy and back out. For me, it's my love of Harry Potter. And not just Harry Potter, but the fantasy genre as a whole, particularly juvenile fantasy. I love Tamora Pierce, Robert Jordan, some Anne McCaffrey, Brian Jacques, Diana Wynne Jones, Gail Carson Levine... And Harry Potter. I'm not a fanatic, meaning that I don't dress up and go to midnight release parties with the wand that I made myself (not that I haven't been tempted--I'd make a great Hermione when I make my hair bushy). But I have re-read the series too many times to count and successfully convinced half my family or more to read the books as well. I regularly check theleakycauldron.org, my favorite source for HP news. I used to even read Harry Potter fanfiction, though I haven't for a long time. Naturally, I didn't reveal this to Adam, in case it was just too much for him.

Then Adam revealed his little secret--my obsession with Harry Potter is matched by his for Star Trek. Yes, Adam is a Trekkie (or is it Trekker? Whichever). I believe he even created and managed a website devoted to Star Trek when he was a teenager. Knowing this makes me feel better about my closet obsession with Harry Potter.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I read my Harry Potter book. I've re-read the seventh book but that's all, since half of my Harry Potter books were in storage boxes and I didn't want to find them. But now that the contents of those boxes are lining the walls of our second bedroom, and feeling that I've been watching too much tv lately, I decided to read the whole Harry Potter series again.

Last night I got sick. The last time I was in this much pain and discomfort was labor, if that gives you an idea of how badly my stomach hurt. I writhed on the couch for awhile and let Adam take care of the baby. His stomach hurt a little too, which makes me suspect the broccoli cheese soup that I made for dinner (way to boost my confidence in my cooking). I also haven't thrown up since I was pregnant, so last night really was rather miserable. Actually, I'm still miserable. I couldn't sleep and I still feel sick, so I'm trying to keep eating and drinking, but it's hard to do. Adam had to go to work because two other employees are out today and he can't leave his boss to take care of all the trades alone. I've been doing an alright job of taking care of myself and the baby, but it's been a struggle, especially since I can't really walk around with her when she gets upset. I tried, but I just got dizzy and almost fell.

So what does this have to do with Harry Potter? Well, I've heard that you should read to your baby from whatever you're reading so that they can get used to the flow of the English language and hear more words. I've tried before but it was a bit awkward and she got restless. Also, she's been giving me trouble with napping for the last week or so. I have a hard time getting her to sleep during the day, even though she'll go to sleep at night. So this morning, when it was getting close to when I wanted her to nap, I plopped her in her bouncer, laid on the couch, and read to her from The Prisoner of Azkaban. Within minutes she fell asleep! Hooray! No fuss at naptime! After she woke up, I fed her, plopped her back in the bouncer, and tried again. For half an hour, she listened to me read. Yes, that's right. A 2.5 month old sat for half an hour watching and listening while I read Harry Potter. She smiled at me whenever I looked at her and played a little with the toy bar on the bouncer. Then when it was time for her next nap, I put her in her swing and tried again. Lo and behold, it worked. Unfortunately the dishwasher made a loud crack and woke her a few minutes later, but she's back to sleep now and I'm back reading (everything seems to be working out, but oh no! Lupin forgot to take his potion!)

So I like to think that Katrina knows good literature when she hears it. :] She'll likely grow up to be a fan, just like her mama.*

*Okay, Adam is actually quite the fan as well, just not nearly the same caliber as me. When the seventh book came out, we took turns reading it out loud and finished it in two days.