Adventures at the Bank

Its been a very nice day today, but unusual. Maybe its being unusual is what made it nice.

Mike worked from home today, but as he was waiting on work from other members of his team, he didn't have very much work to do. This meant, not only could he watch Natalie while I was at the dentist, which is why he was at home today in the first place, but he could come with us on our walk around lunch time and we could go to the bank. It was nice having him around without one of us being busy the whole time.

First off, I was worried about the dentist, but I had no areas of concern! Yea! I do have one spot that is extra sensitive, but it was due to a receding gum, not a cavity. And, the hygienist gave me a tooth brush for Natalie! Had I known we'd get a free one at the dentist, I wouldn't have been looking around every where for one and spent money on one. They had the exact same one she has (pink with lady bugs) so we got a blue one with ducks instead. While I was out, Mike didn't really have any trouble with Natalie either. She got fussy when she saw me because she remembered that it was passed time to nurse.

I have still been worrying about nursing too little today, and it didn't help that the hygienist mentioned, without prompting, that her daughter was down to three sessions after her first birthday. But, I'm trying not to let it get to me. We get four good sessions a day. At her age, she only needs 5-10 minutes to empty the breast, and she gets that at least and usually a lot more, four times a day without fail. And even though maybe more nursing sessions would be best, she isn't staving. She got three tablespoons of oatmeal with an ounce and half of breast milk, three ounces of yogurt, and almost three ounces of carrots today, on top of trying cheese for the first time off of my plate at lunch. She is getting plenty to eat and its good foods, not like french fries, soda, and ice cream. I just have to keep reminding myself that the guidelines from the doctor say "3-4 feedings" under formula and breast milk with a minimum of 24 ounces. And though I can't believe it, for 8-10 months, that minimum drops to 16 ounces. Alright, enough about this worry. I wish I could just stop thinking about it, but its impossible to avoid.

When we went out on our walk today, I put flyers in our neighbors' mailboxes about the Relay for Life yard sale we are having in about a week. We printed 50 flyers (I wanted more like 75), and I gave them all out. I could have easily done the other 25 since we didn't even give one to every house on the first circuit of the walk. Mike didn't quite realize why I wanted him there until I started to put the flyers out. He was often head or behind me or even on the other side of the street. I had to go up driveways and across lawns, things I just can't do with Natalie unless I leave her in the street, which I do not want to do at all. We swung by our neighbor down the street first and her husband was out, so he called her out. We hadn't seen her for a while, so I had written her a note on her flyer. We gave her our old fridge to help raise money for her brother a few years back, so she jumped at the opportunity to give us something to sell at the yard sale. Actually, buy the time we got back to the house, she had left things on our deck! We stayed there talking at her place for a while, so we had to cut the walk short. Mike actually went back to the house without us since Natalie had fallen asleep and we wanted her to get more time to nap.

After the walk, we had an appointment at the bank at 230 to talk to the mortgage specialist about refinancing. We've been thinking about doing this for a while, but didn't think we had enough money into the load to make a difference. My parents recently offered to help us with that as they just did for my brother, so we seized the opportunity to look into it today. We had originally thought we could just go down the street to the local branch and ask a few questions, but we had to go to the office down town and speak to this particular woman. We brought Natalie along (and parked in an hour only spot), thinking we wouldn't be that long. We were there almost two hours though! Mike felt bad because he hadn't meant to be away from his work email that long, but once we got there, we really couldn't leave. There was a lot of running of numbers which I didn't follow because a.) I'm not good at that kind of thing in my head and b.) I was keeping Natalie occupied walking around the office. After a while, Natalie had to be walked up and down the hall. Then, it got to the point where we decided to apply, but Natalie needed to be nursed.

Yesterday, I said I felt bad about not knowing when Natalie is hungry. Well, I feel better about that today. I was holding her facing my chest, and she was smooshing her face into my skin exposed by my scoop collar. I was going to go out to the car (which would also hopefully reduce the risk of us getting a ticket), but I would need to sign a lot of papers for the application. So, the banker thought quickly and brought me down to one of the safety deposit box viewing rooms downstairs. It was kind of like a clean dressing room, but with a table and chairs. It worked out wonderfully. In fact, the chair was just about perfect and it might have been the best nursing away from home experience we've had (aside from my parents' house). She went at it and when her interest seemed to wane, we head back upstairs. She probably could have gone for longer being off and on (like she did this evening at bed time), but I wasn't about to do that in the middle of a bank not knowing if Mike is waiting for me upstairs when each passing moment increased the chance of a parking ticket. Now hours later, I can feel the difference in my breast, but Natalie didn't seem to mind aside from being tired. She would have preferred to nurse until she fell asleep, but it wasn't an option.

Anyway, when it came time to sign the papers, I set Natalie on the floor and she was actually happy. We got through about three papers and Natalie is playing with her feet and babbling, then she loses her balance and I see her toppling backward. Bang goes her head against the floor (carpeted thank god), and goodbye to happy Natalie. She cried a bit and I had to sign the rest of the papers one handed. On the way home from the bank, she conked out in the car. We were tip toeing around her to make sure she got enough sleep for it to count as a real nap. When it got to be 5, I head out into the kitchen, which is where we put her car seat when she is still asleep, and started to make dinner. I got louder and louder, running the microwave, using tin foil, emptying the dishwasher, but she stayed asleep! When dinner was ready to go in the oven, I started calling her name, and finally undid the car seat straps. That woke her up fast, but she was still heavy in my arms. I gave her dinner and then she played happily until a little after 7. We had her trying to walk in between us. She managed to take a couple more steps and to balance in a standing position a few times. For the most part, she really likes this game. She smiles, and get very excited when its time to go from Daddy back over to Mommy. Most of the time though, she is like a drunk stumbling side to side and forward.

So, today was a good day. Other than a little bit of crying when trying to go down for her morning nap and that bang on the head at the bank, Natalie has been happy (or at least content) all day. I do feel a bit bad that we didn't probably change her diaper enough today, but she also didn't poop, so it wasn't so bad and there was no sign of a rash. Its kind of like we can't be on top of everything every day. I guess another negative of today was that even though it was great weather, Natalie didn't really get to play outside today because we were so busy, but we did go on the walk. Other good things about today were that we did NOT get a parking ticket even though we were parked in an hour spot for about two hours. Also, we found out that our credit scores have gone up and we are now in the excellent bracket. Lastly, Mike's mom offered to come baby sit on Saturday. She is showing her house, so she's going to come over and stay the night. We plan to go out to a movie after Natalie is down for the evening. I do have some worry that Natalie will hear us leave and wake up. Or that she'll somehow know we're gone. But logic tells me that it is highly unlikely that she will chose the one night we go out to be the night that she needs to be comforted back to sleep.