The last few days have gone by quickly. I think this is because Mike was home for the holiday on Monday and then home again today for our refiancing closing. That meant I had only two days with Natalie alone during the day. Now we just have tomorrow, and then its the weekend! This week has flown by.
Its scary to think that it is only a few hours more than a week before we set off for our trip to TX. As time goes by, I get both more nervous about the trip, while also feeling more in control. For example, I continue to worry about Natalie getting into trouble with her new mobility in a (probably) non-baby proofed house. I was thinking about what to pack for her for toys and what which ones are her favorites, and I realized I had a hard time figuring out which ones where. I know she likes a couple of books, a could teethers, her music table, and her blocks. But most of her other things she doesn't seem to care about much. I do remember our home visitor saying that she isn't going to care much about toys for a little while as she is so focused on moving around. That made me feel better. But still, I want to pull out some of the things she isn't playing with and get her a couple of new toys for the trip. This idea made me feel more in control.
I've told Mike a few times that the couple days before we leave I'm going to need his help extra in the evening so that I can get us packed. I won't be able to pack much early because Natalie will be using her warm weather close and her toys. And I won't be able to pack much during the day while watching her either. Well, Mike talked to his mom tonight and she is going to come over on Thursday during the day. This will leave me free to run around doing laundry and packing up said laundry into various luggage. I'm sure there will be a million other little things to do as well, so it will be so great to have someone here so that I can be in and out of the room without Natalie sticking her fingers in the fan, pulling out electrical plugs, or eating cat food. What makes this even better?? Well, Thursday is also our four year anniversary. We wanted to go back to the place we got married as we have the last three years, but it wasn't going to work because it is 45 minutes away and they don't start dinner service until 5. So, we were going to go out to Fridays or Applebees, somewhere a step up from Friendlies. But now that Nana will be here, we can go out alone! Its been months since we went out to dinner alone. If we go right when Mike gets home and know what we want to order when we arrive, we should be home in time for bed time without too much trouble. Nana will have to deal with Natalie's potentially fussiest time, but I'm not too worried about it since Natalie has really warmed up to spending time with Nana.
Speaking of warming up to people: Natalie has really warmed up to my teacher friend, Alicia. I'm very glad about this since when she and her fiance baby sat for Natalie back months ago, Natalie cried the WHOLE time. The only way they could get her to stop was to like hide from her. But Natalie wanted to me to keep bringing her over to Alicia in the pool yesterday when she came over for a visit and a swim. And Natalie crawled over to her some, too. Its great that Natalie seems to be recognizing people she doesn't see every day. Some days I feel like she is afraid of strangers, but other days she has no problems. I think it is really just when other people want to hold her that she gets upset. We'll have to see how this changes over time since stranger anxiety isn't supposed to have peaked yet. I definitely know that she has separation anxiety at times. She loves her Mommy and clings to her especially tightly when she is tired or upset.
An update from the last blog: Natalie's ears were fine. The doctor (who wasn't out usual doctor, but the person available for sick appointments) was very nice and all three people I talked to at the office seemed to understand fully why we were bringing her in even though she didn't seem that sick. The doctor also gave us a little advice on flying. Most of it I had heard, but she okayed giving her a little children's Benadryl to take the edge off. I need to call and verify the dosage though before we go. I'm pretty sure I've seen commercials for travel size dosages. I'm hoping I can get one of those so we don't have to worry about packing a bottle and it being the allowed sized. Also at Natalie's appointment, she was weighed, but not measured for height. She was 19 lbs 10.5 ounces. The difference from our scale was probably just the fact that our scale isn't very good and your normal daily variation due to eating and pooping and peeing.
Also as an update from last blog: Natalie totally has getting down from standing mastered now. I haven't seen her do it in the crib or the pack and play, but pretty much every where else. She has started to get down to get toys she has dropped. She also will get down to crawl a few steps over to something she can't reach. I swear that Ellie kitty has continued to be an influence in Natalie's desire to be mobile. She continues to try to get to her (and the other two cats) whenever they are around. Mike says that Hazel let Natalie pet her yesterday.
Speaking of the cats, Ellie is getting groomed on Saturday. I'm hoping that she won't be traumatized. She keeps getting knots, especially on her stomach. We also found a huge poop stuck to her butt fur the other day. So, she is going to get her belly fur and her haunches trimmed way down, but not shaved. I'll need to leave her there for a bit, so we are going to run a couple errands in that mall. I've never left her anywhere before. Whenever she has had to go to the vet, I've always been there the whole time.
There isn't too much in terms of other news. Natalie behaved well at our refinancing. She either sat on the floor, stood at my chair, or our laps. She ate a bunch of Cheerios and didn't make too big of a mess. We went to the library yesterday and another baby tried to like crawl up her by putting her hands on top of Natalie's head. When she did a second time (after also hitting another baby and making her cry), I decided it was time to move to a different location since the mom wasn't intervening enough to my liking. We made a little mistake with Natalie last night. Its been very, very hot up here the last few days. Last night, we left the air conditioners on all night, even though we usually don't. In fact, we usually turn the one in Natalie's room off early. But, we were both really tired and forgot. Mike actually stayed out on the couch all night because he was so comfortable. Anyway, it was 66 in her room this morning and she was in just a little onesie! We felt so bad. Natalie didn't seem to care though. She sure felt cold to the touch, and I put a blanket over her and she was warm (except her feet) about 20 minutes later when she got up.
The last thing I wanted to write about is something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. A friend of ours has a baby about two weeks old now, and I have a few other friends who are pregnant. Its really getting me thinking back about Natalie as a newborn and being pregnant. I really want to do everything over again with a second child. But, at the same time, I love this time with Natalie. How could I ever give a second child what the attention that Natalie has gotten so far? I would be spreading my attention between two children with such different needs in the beginning. How will Natalie react to me spending so much time with a new little baby? I would be so sad to not get all that special time with a second child. And, I enjoy Natalie so much. Things are so wonderful with our little family of three. We enjoy all of Natalie's firsts because there seems to be something new almost every day. It will be different with another child. Millions of people do it, so I know it will all work out. In fact, both Mike and I are not first children (he was the second and I was the third, both of us the "babies" of the family).
No comments:
Post a Comment