The Day Before Yule

1 DTY/ 4 DTC

I just picked up one last gift for DTTF, and I'm so excited! I can hardly wait to tell you all what it is, but because he might decide to read my blog, I have to wait until after Christmas to tell you. You're going to love it! YIPPEE!

I finally got the holiday cards in the mail today. Tonight I have to go to Wal-Mart and Kroger, then go home and wrap gifts. This includes DTTF's gifts (except the newest one, which I had to wrap here at work). I'm trying to decide which one to give him tomorrow. I think I'm going to go ahead and give him the one he was trying to guess on.

I also finally found a couple of great gifts for Tree Faerie. I got her a package of "block books." They are books that when closed are soft blocks. I also got her a book called Goodnight Elmo. I was looking specifically for cloth books, so this met my needs, and all for about $20.

I'm so excited about this holiday. I love the gifts I got for other people - so much, in fact, that I don't really care what I get personally! I have had so much fun shopping this season! The only big-ticket-item I still need to purchase is Tree Faerie's new car seat, which after last night is a must. The handle on her infant carrier slipped again. Because I've always made sure to support the seat in more than one way when carrying her in it, nothing bad has happened due to the faulty handle.

The seat was "recalled" earlier this year because the locks on the handle kept slipping. When I contacted the manufacturer, they sent me a kit with instructions to change the handles. After I changed the handles, everything was perfect until I got Tree Faerie out of the car last night - in the seat, of course. She's only about 19.5 pounds, so I still bring her into and out of the house in her carrier. I won't be doing that anymore! It slipped again last night on one side.

I probably won't post anything from now until Christmas, so have a happy holiday week, everyone!

Transitioning

2 DTY/ 5 DTC

Tree Faerie is currently going through the transitioning process at daycare. Next week is the last week of transition, and she'll be staying through naptime before going back to the infant room for the remainder of the afternoon.

Because the daycare is only open 3 days next week, I went ahead and brought the nap mat I bought last night in case they wanted to try to put her down for a nap in the toddler room today and tomorrow.

Please note the "in case" phrase.

So, I told the infant room teachers this morning, and they sounded like they thought it was a great idea. On my way out to the car, I stopped to talk to the toddler room head teacher because she was in the lobby. She seemed against the idea, which is fine by me, but the assistant director was also sitting there and thought it was a good idea. I proceeded to go out to the car to get the mat.

When I brought it in, the head teacher was back in the room and immediately brought up WHY she thought it was a bad idea. Her reasons for not having Tree Faerie stay for nap-time today and tomorrow were pretty much based around the toddlers that were transitioning out of her room and whether they would have room to have Tree Faerie join them for a nap.

I think I finally convinced her that I really don't care one way or the other whether she naps in the infant room or the toddler room - I was really just giving them the option. This teacher seems to be a little afraid of how I'm going to react. I can see that the next couple of months are going to be interesting while we learn to work with one another. Hopefully I can find a way of ensuring her that I understand she has a job to do and all I want is to make that job easier so she can provide each child in her room with the absolute best care possible.

Wish me luck. Thankfully she's an extremely nice person.

Won the British Lottery

3 DTY/ 6DTC

I keep getting a multitude of emails telling me that my email address has won the British Lottery or the AOL Lottery or the Microsoft Lottery and that I need to respond immediately to collect my winnings.

I'm beginning to believe these people are just plain mean. I know it's a hoax. They know it's a hoax. Money is the number one stress factor for Americans. I think it's terrible to tell someone they've one 100,000,000 British pounds, but they have to pay to get it, then they take these people's money and never give them their "winnings". Or they get the person's detailed information (name, birth date, SSN, address, birthplace, etc) and suddenly the person is the victim of identity theft.

Also, dear mean-spirited spammers, if you are going to send me an email telling me I've won the British Lottery, please learn to type. Oh, and I know you must have spell check. Try it. You can do either the British spellings or the American spellings - I don't care which - just as long as I don't have to decipher the email as if I was decoding a secret message. Since you claim to be a lawyer or a doctor (or both), I know you must have attended college. Put that education to good use!

Ugh.

Lucky with the In-Laws

4 DTY/ 7 DTC

I must admit I got really lucky when DTTF and I got together - my in-laws are absolutely fabulous! DTTF's sister and her family got into town very early on Saturday, so after DTTF got off work, we packed up and headed down to his mom's for a visit. We had a wonderful visit. I have missed my sister-in-law terribly. I'm in awe of how we've "grown up" together. Six years ago we would have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing cards and drinking. Now the times have definitely changed. By the time we get the kids in bed, we're pretty much useless. Oddly, she and I were the two that stayed up the latest, but that was only because she had to feed her youngest around midnight so I stayed up with her.

This was the first time Tree Faerie has met her aunt, uncle, and cousins. DTTF's sister's two boys are absolutely adorable. The 2.5 year old was great at entertaining Tree Faerie. It was so cute to watch them crawl around on the floor together and play with the blocks.

Yesterday after Tree Faerie got her flu shot booster, she and I met the in-laws at Barnes & Noble, then headed over to Build-A-Bear to make stuffed animals for all three kids. We picked out a purple hippopotamus for Tree Faerie and named her Lavender. The holiday song that's been stuck in my head this year is the "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" song, so Nana and I both thought it was perfect. Tree Faerie was giving it kisses and hugs while we were in the store. Lavender has a heartbeat and plays Brahm's Lullaby, which is a song I sometimes hum to her when I'm trying to get her to go to sleep. I'm now totally in love with Lavender, and I love watching Tree Faerie snuggle her and kiss her.

It's amazing how much just a little time with my sister-in-law has really boosted my mood. I'm really looking forward to spending Christmas with her and the rest of the family!

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

8 DTY/ 11 DTC

I love holiday music and know the words to many, many holiday songs. The other night when we toot Tree Faerie to see Santa, one of the ways I kept her entertained was by singing to her. It wasn't until later that I realized I had just provided free entertainment to everyone in the middle of the mall. It's a good thing I'm fairly comfortable with my voice, or at least I'm comfortable with it as long as there is not a microphone in sight. I'm afraid of microphones, but I'll save that story for another day.

I have ALWAYS wanted a huge stuffed animal. I recently discovered part of the reason I never got one - they are EXPENSIVE! I mean, like $600 expensive! So I stopped wishing for a huge stuffed animal.

Last night we went to Wal-Mart for the normal necessities plus several gifts for our nephews. While we were looking around, I saw this really big stuffed monkey. I immediately grabbed it and snuggled it, then went in search of a price. I finally found it on the ear, and to my elated surprise, it was only $20! So, in the cart it went as a gift for myself Tree Faerie. Tree Faerie wasn't crazy about him sitting in the basket behind her, so we finally had to shove his head between his knees to make her more comfortable. Hopefully it grows on her, because I will be very disappointed if she continues to be afraid of it. Of course, she's the kid who's afraid of balls and balloons.

While the monkey is not as big as the $600 bear I was looking at the other day, it is 3 times Tree Faerie's size. I'm so excited! So, on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Yet another opportunity to provide something for my child that I always wanted but never had.

Thoughts on Weaning

9 DTY/12 DTC (Days-'til-Yule/Days-'til-Christmas)

I believe the weaning process has officially begun. While Tree Faerie still LOVES to nurse, she's only taking two bottles at daycare, so I only have to pump once a day now. I'm still not producing well since I had the stomach bug, so I have not had any problems with engorgement. In 16 days, I won't have to pump at all.

I won't miss the pumping, but I'm not sure what it's going to do to my supply. I feel pretty empty right now, and I'm still producing at least half as much as I was. When Tree Faerie nurses, sometimes I think, There's nothing in there! What am I going to do if she throws a fit because she doesn't get anything? Of course, she always manages to get milk.

I must admit I'm also a little afraid of the hormonal changes weaning will send me through. I'm hoping that if we wean slowly I won't end up on a roller coaster ride of hormonal fluctuations. I'm very emotionally sensitive to hormonal changes and really don't want to have that explosive, uncontrolled feeling that I usually get when my hormones change.

One of the aspects of weaning I want to focus on is night-weaning. Tree Faerie has never been a great sleeper. In fact, it's rare for her to go more than 4 hours without waking up to nurse. Usually she sleeps 2 or 3 hours before waking. Sometimes it's every 45 minutes. I know that most of those times she's just wanting comfort because I can often get her settled back down and back in bed in about 20 minutes or so. I've been practicing only coming to her when she actually demands to nurse instead of coming to her every time she whimpers.

The hardest thing about this is the fact that I DON'T LIKE CHANGE. I have to make changes slowly and prepare myself well for them. Tree Faerie has taken matters into her own hands a couple of times already when I was taking my own sweet time and she was ready for change (like refusing to be spoon-fed and now weaning herself off the bottles). I kept hoping she'd decide to night-wean, but no. She likes the boob too much. I also know that nursing is one of the ways she reconnects with me after being at daycare all day.

Because I don't like change, I tend to procrastinate A LOT. So, right now I'm working on preparing myself for the change ahead, though I'm still having a hard time taking my foot off the brake and putting it on the gas pedal.

The Magic of Santa

10 days until Yule/13 days until Christmas

Tree Faerie had her first visit with Santa last night, and she did beautifully! We got a great picture from them, plus DTTF took pictures with our camera. As soon as I download them from the camera, I'll share.

What made the experience even more magical is that...

WE KNOW SANTA!

And we know him well enough that he told us to have a HAPPY YULE! DTTF is supposed to give me his email address so I can thank him for making my daughter's first visit with Santa even more special.

The other countdown I'm keeping track of - 3 days until the SIL and her family are here! I spent an hour on the phone with her this morning (it's her birthday), and we can all hardly wait! Her 2.5 year old even said my name this morning! I almost cried... I have missed them so much.