Vacation

We survived a whole week together! Reimers family Michigan vacation was a success. 

We started planning this vacation in February.  We drove by some amazing beach

 front property. We picked out several "family compounds" that would be suitable for all our future vacation needs. Too bad nobody had any spare millions to invest.  

Highlights:

Adam-reading on the beach, bike ride on the first day with Molly, Matt and Dad that was 5.5 hours long, including a hike up to a look out above the tree line, ice cream and lunch break. 

Marie-eating meals together, relaxing and Kilwins salted carmel ice cream cone

Dad-Tunnel beach with everyone, flying kites

Mom-relaxing at the house and eating meals

Molly-everything, Tunnel beach the best

Matt-I still need to ask him! He was there from Sunday-Tuesday evening. 

Lows: 

Road closures, detours, 19 hours without power and water, the house was a little far from town/beach, no bathtub and thus Claire had her first shower, much to her chagrin. 

Obsessive

Sometimes, I get a little obsessive about books. If they are in a series, it gets worse. I read at the table, in car, before bed, in bed way too late. I am currently on a reading binge. Our friend, Jake, bet that I would try and read during a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream, however, I resisted. I was sitting in the front row, I don't want to be rude to strangers. To my family and friends, however,....

 I take Claire to the gym so I can read on a bike. I don't think that is so bad. I pay a monthly fee and it gets us out of the house and gives Claire some socialization time. Today, it got a little ridiculous. I paid our babysitter to come over so I can do some work for the upcoming school year and mow the lawn. But, it was raining and they hadn't assigned me my students yet. I did some chores at first, but the books were calling my name. As I was reading, it got very quiet. Claire must be asleep, I realized. That means I was paying someone to watch Claire sleep so I could read..... well sort of, she was also holding Claire.

Lauren, the babysitter, is the sleeping miracle worker.  She can get Claire to go to sleep without a bottle. She walks in circles singing and Claire snuggles up in the fetal position and starts snoring on her chest. Lauren will hold her for her whole nap instead of laying her in her crib for fear of waking her up. Claire's sleeping habits are still exhausting. She'll sleep 4-5 hours for the first stretch, but then only 2 hours after that and sometimes  she just cries and cries even though she is tired she can't go back to sleep. I contemplated paying Lauren to come from 3 am-7 am while Adam is out of town.

Just thought I would update my blog for the first time in MONTHS to give you a sneak peak at what is going on inside this House of Houghtons.

Grass part 2

She is willing to tolerate the grass to get to one thing she loves the best.

Teeth

We've tried to get a good picture of her teeth for a month now. How many can you see?

Grass

  I had heard that babies don't like the feel of grass right away. Claire is no different! She shuddered and then cried when I sat her in the grass.

She prefers sitting on a blanket and either pulling one grass blade at a time or brushing it with her hand. 

We think she is precious! Summer is going to be extra fun this year.

Freak of Nature

I should really blog about Easter, but I'll have to get to that later.

I am just in shock because Claire now has 5 teeth. I dropped her off at Michelle's today and went and did a speech/language evaluation. I came back and Michelle said something like, "oh, I didn't know she got another tooth." I looked at her like she was crazy and then she pointed out that to the left of the middle top tooth was another tooth. Michelle noticed that Claire was biting the bottle on that side of her mouth and wondered if that was why and she was right. I guess I too noticed her biting on that side of her mouth, but I couldn't imagine it was another tooth.

Michelle called her advanced and I called her a FREAK OF NATURE. Who needs that many teeth before their six month birthday? And I know you want to ask, yes, she bites me sometimes when she is feeding. OUCH! Since she has been teething for the past 3 months and hasn't slept for longer than 3.5 hour stretches (that is on a good night) in 3 months, I am assuming they are related. Will it ever stop or will she just keep getting teeth until there is no more room in her mouth and we have to start pulling them out!?!?

I'll try to get a picture, but it is hard to catch!

Spring Break Part 1

I've got a two week spring break from my tele-therapy job so I thought I would update you on what has been going on at the House of Houghtons.

Speaking of my job, the therapy itself is going fine, however, all the paperwork, resolving tech issues, scheduling and lesson planning (all of which happens after I send the babysitters home) wears on me. Plus, I am permanently sleep deprived and I don't feel like I am doing anything well these days. So I don't know. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude until June and then decide if I want to keep doing it.

Back to Spring Break, the first week was full of visitors. Adam's mom was here for 4 days and babysat while I worked Friday and so Adam and I could go out, rocked the baby while I napped, cooked and cleaned, shopped and let me get a pedicure and probably much more that I can't remember. My friend Liz and Courtney came on Wednesday and Thursday for their Spring Break. We ate, played games, watched a movie, shopped and talked. Then on Friday , Mary Sue, Maile, Mom and Molly came and we went to Shipshewana for some good Amish food and shopping and Saturday we ate some more and died Easter Eggs. So to sum it up, I shopped and ate too much so my wallet is lighter and my belly heavier.

This week I don't have much planned at all. Hopefully, I'll get to the gym and get some naps!

Adam's been busy working on peds. He starts nights tomorrow and he works through Saturday morning and then we'll go to Havana for Easter.

Have a great week!

What's New?

Molly asked me, "what's new with you guys?" today. I thought maybe I'd share my answers with you all.

1. I am trying liquid eyeliner. It might be start of something beautiful. Or a stay at home mom's pathetic attempt to dress up sweat pants.

2. Claire is cutting her 3rd tooth. Top left. Molly described it as "aggressive teething." I agree.

3. We didn't go to Havana this weekend because one of Adam's clinic patients is due any day now, first time mom and he promised her that he would be here. He's just that kind of guy. He could have signed her out to another resident, but instead he gave up a trip home.

4. On that note, Adam is the chief resident for next year. So he'll be making the schedule for the residents and interviewing all the new candidates for next year. I think those are the 2 main responsibilities.

5. I am working next week and then I have a 2 week Spring Break with lots of visitors. Woohoo!

6. We got the carpets steam cleaned. I feel so much better about having the baby on the ground.

I think that is all for now! We spent most of this gorgeous day tag-teaming babysitting and catching up on sleep. Feeding this baby every 2 hours day and night takes a toll on me and Adam's crazy schedule is hard on him, too. He only worked 5 days this week, vacation day on Wednesday, and only one of those days was terribly long, like 8:00 am.- 2:00 a.m. long, gross!

What's new with you???

28!

Adam's birthday was Friday. His first birthday as a dad! Last year on his birthday, I was in my first trimester and barely made it through the dinner without getting sick.

Adam always looks forward to being able to say he's one year older the many times a week he gets asked his age.

He actually had the day off from work. He hung out with Claire while I worked during the day. I made breakfast and lunch and neither went very well, but it's the thought that counts. Time flew and all of sudden it was 7 pm so we headed out for some sushi. We enjoyed each other's company and a nice time even though I didn't like some of our food (bust #3 if you're counting).

Here is a pic of Adam using his new vacuum. I love you, Adam!!

adorable little fingers

My baby can use her hands! She grabs and holds on to everything now. Some of her favorites are my hair, crinkly toys, burp rags, fingers, the dog, the carseat cover and her bottle. Also, she can hold the bottle in her mouth... sort of!

She still needs help keeping it in her mouth.

 Oh yeah, that's me in the robe. I wear it all the time because it is warm and snuggly. 

Party Favors!

My mom had a dinner party last weekend. She wanted to eat on the china and sit in the dining room.  So we called it a dinner party because...... we're fancy like that.  We even ate cornish hens! I originally thought it was sort of a birthday party for her since it was close to her birthday. So I made a little party favor that contained a few of my mom's favorite things. It wasn't really a birthday party, but she was the hostess of the mostest. My paper crafting magazine gave me the inspiration for the favor. It was pretty easy to make and I liked how it turned out. I took this picture in my mom's dining room. Love you, mom!

A new job

About a year ago, I gave a new teletherapy company my contact information. They contacted me around Christmas time because they needed someone with an Indiana license. I interviewed, asked my questions and talked to Adam about possibly working 2 days a week. I thought it would be nice to have the extra money and it would be a way to keep my feet in the water.

But what about Claire? I didn't want to leave her and I worried about pumping and having enough to feed her. Earlier in the year, my friend Michelle said she would watch Claire if I went back to work next year and then graciously offered to come to my house (with Claire's boyfriend in tow) to watch her here after the tele therapy position became available. (THANK YOU, MICHELLE!) I also talked to the high school girls across the street who are home schooled if they would be able to fit some babysitting into their schedule. They decided on Fridays they could come over and split the day. Perfect! Work from home? In-home day care? I can handle this.

I signed the contract. Since then, I've been assigned six students who attend an Indiana virtual school to do therapy over the web platform my company created and to do evaluations in person with students in northern Indiana. I finished the training and am currently scheduling my students.

I hope it goes well. Wish me luck!

crafty follow up

I emailed my favorite blogger (Young House Love) about my tea wheel because I know she drinks tea and she wrote me back this:


So charming! I love it!

xoxo,
s

Totally made my day! I feel like I talked to a celebrity. 

Craftiness

I've been crafting up a storm!!!!!

I led craft club this month and of course used pinterst as my inspiration. We made this burlap banner for Valentine's day and stuffed paper hearts from classic love stories. Don't mind the cardboard in my fireplace meant to discourage the dog from trying to go through the fireplace.

My mom was here this weekend and I couldn't wait to give her the birthday present. It is a tea bag wreath or wheel to display/store all of her tea bags she got for Christmas! She put it in her office because we couldn't find a good wall spot in the kitchen and she drinks her tea upstairs while she's working from home during the day. It looks better with her tea bags than in the close up picture I took at my house. 

I also made some tile coasters (bought for $5 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore) with Claire's 3 month pictures as favors at her baptism party. I took a "in process" picture and an after picture. They could be used as coasters (modge podged, acrylic sprayed and felt feet on the bottom) or just as cute pictures to display. 

I've got a few more crafts up my sleeve for this month that
I hope to get done. What have you made this month?

Too big

What a week of firsts over at House of Houghtons!

First of all, she has a tooth! Her bottom right tooth has arrived. No wonder she was crabby, not sleeping, drooling and chewing on everything. We thought, no way, too early. The range is usually 4-7 months or you'll read a lot of places 6 months on average. She is just a little over 3 months!

She can roll over from back to front and front to back and one time she did a 360 roll. Of course, she wouldn't do it for company this weekend, but rolled over like 10 times in a row for Adam last night.

She had her first babysitting session for my new job with the girl across the street.

She had her baptism on Sunday.

She went to Shipshewana for the first time (ok, now I'm stretching to find firsts).

My baby is growing up and I just want to keep her little forever! Although, this is a pretty fun age..... bittersweet!

FYI: I pinned the "in and out" picture on interest, one Natalie took, and somehow it started "trending" and got 416 repins, a bunch of likes and comments! Then I pinned the pumpkin maternity picture, which in my opinion is the best one and no repins. My theory is that you just have to pin it at the right time for it to show up in the feed and people start repinning it so that it stays in the newsfeed thingy for awhile. Within minutes of me uploading it, it got most of its activity.

The Curious Case of Claire Bear

My baby is curious, as curious as can be.

She always liked looking at lights, but now that her eyesight has developed, she's so alert, focused, head up and watching everything. I think this contributes to the no sleep problem.

She used to sleep in the moby wrap with her head against my chest and now she has her head propped up, taking everything in. She used to sleep in the carseat at the store and now she cries if her little carseat cover is up because she wants to be able to look around.

She likes to watch t.v. which makes me nervous that she is turning into a couch potato already. The American College of Pediatrics recommends zero screen time before a baby's 2nd birthday!! This video of Claire takes awhile to load, but it should work. I had a lot of trouble posting it. If you watch it full screen, it will be blurry.

 She is having problems nursing,too. If she isn't tired, she'll eat some, throw her head back, smile at me and coo and then eat a little, throw head back, smile and repeat. The t.v. and computer can distract her while eating, too. Somedays I have to cover her eyes and force her to finish eating or it would take forever!

She is happiest if she can see me, but if I walk out of the room she might throw a fit or just coo to herself.

We'll figure out this sleeping thing sometime and being curious will be a good thing later in life!

Ground Hog Day

Happy Ground Hog Day!

This year it is going to be 46 degrees out! Last year on this day, we had 25 inches of snow and I had a snow day from school. Adam and I shoveled and snowblowed the driveway at the wee hours of the morning and still couldn't get out of the driveway. We had to call the hospital's Hummer service to come pick up Adam and he was late to work.

That was a pretty memorable event, but pales in comparison to another event, a positive pregnancy test! It was pretty early to take the test and we weren't sure if the result was accurate, but we were hoping that subsequent tests would show the same reading.

I took this picture (oh to be that size again!) on Ground Hog Day.

and stayed inside all day, hibernating and dreaming of what this little nugget would look like!

Sicky

My poor baby is sicky!

She has been congested for awhile and then she started sneezing up yucky stuff, coughing, being fussy and sleepy (preferably in mommy's arms). I feel so bad for her. Adam said babies are "nose obligated breathers" so her nose is all stuffed up, but she doesn't know how to breathe out of her mouth. We moved her into our room last night so we could keep our... "ears" on her. She slept a lot, however, we kept picking her up when she would be snorting and choking and we eventually put her in her carseat. It helped her breathing a little to be more upright. Of course as new parents, we are up in the middle night discussing if her O2 stats would be normal and if she needed to go to the doctor if she didn't get better and what if she needed to go to the hospital and, and, and..... Fears become exponential in the middle of night while you listen to your baby breathe like Darth Vader.  She mostly wants mommy to hold her and feed her at all times. I cancelled my plans for Monday and the next few days. I called the doctor (I know, I know, about a cold) and bought some vapor rub, more saline spray for her nose and a humidifier.

The second night went better than the first, but she still looks like this

 

It is never a good time to get sick but especially not good when I'm trying to start a new job. Yep, a new job! That's a teaser for the next entry. 

Happy MLK Weekend

Adam has a 3 day weekend!!!! He is using one of his holiday make-up days on Monday. Adam never complains about working so much. He leaves the complaining to me. This weekend, we aren't going anywhere and nobody is coming here. It should be very relaxing. I think we plan to do some shopping, house work, go to church and maybe workout at the gym.

Our little Claire Bear has been so fussy in the evenings and not sleeping well at night and taking very short naps during the day. It makes us all sleepy, even Claire. I know she is tired at night, but man does she work herself into a fit and just can't figure out how to relax. She starts out in the crib at night and naps in the crib. When we get too tired to fight her, we put the cuddle cove in the crib. Oh well, she's worth the work!

Have a great day!
Marie

Typical

Lose weight, exercise more, be more organized are all pretty typical New Year's Resolutions. I guess I am a pretty typical girl because I resolved to join they gym in the first week of 2012 and I did. I even went and worked out at the gym today. Never mind that I am eating m&ms as I write this post.

Why is this gym membership newsworthy? I also signed Claire up for the daycare. I hadn't left her with a non-family member yet. So this morning, instead of our normal routine of cuddling on the couch for hours on end, I packed her up and headed to the Health and Lifestyle building. As I got to the childcare room, I almost turned around and got back in the car, but I didn't. There were even 2 kids I knew already in there. Miss Julia seemed nice and she was holding Claire when I left. I fought the tears and the urge to run back in there for THIRTY WHOLE MINUTES! When I returned, she was the only child in the room and was happy as could be rocking in the glider with Miss Julia. I was so happy to see her little face. I gave her lots of kisses and realized that she handled this whole thing way better than I did. Of course, she cried the whole way home, through the diaper change and swaddling until I started nursing her, then she fell asleep. She is napping now and I'm gearing up for an afternoon of errands. woohoo!


Big day in the House of Houghtons, two outings in a row. Think we can handle it?

poor neglected blog

I haven't posted in forever! I feel the pressure to have picture in all the posts, so I wait until I load the pictures to my computer and then..... well, something else comes up and I just keep postponing.

We celebrated Christmas over 3 weekends with family. There is never is enough time when we are all together.  I went on a tour of Illinois with my family the week after Christmas. We got to see extended family, high-school friends and college friends. Our 27-year tradition of celebrating New Years with the Osterloos and Hendersons was a success and a spy theme.  It was a whirlwind and we missed Adam, who was at home working. Claire and I got back in town just before the first snowstorm of the season started, perfect timing!

When looking back on 2011, it seems like there was lots of waiting until October 19th and then lots of activity! To quote our Christmas newsletter, "Adam and I look at our baby girl with hearts overflowing, and when we think life couldn’t be any better, our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers continue to overwhelm us with their generosity and kindness."

I am predicting 2012 will be a busy year as Claire starts crawling, walking and hopefully talking! Adam will probably make decisions about working after residency. I am considering some part-time SLP opportunities and hope to get into some sort of routine at home. Wiley..... will chase more squirrels and probably still refuse to come inside the house because he just loves the backyard.

Happy New Year!