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!