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Back at work, daycare and sick Lexi

Tuesday was my first day back at work. Natalie, of course, chose Monday evening to not sleep very well meaning mom did not sleep very well. I did manage to get through the day at work but felt pretty tired. No one expected too much of me though so it worked out ok. I managed to get through a good portion of my emails. People were happy to see me back and I found a bunch of stuff that didn't get done while I was away. Ugh. I was hoping to avoid having to touch a lot of it again!

Natalie did ok at day care. She ate fine (phew!) but didn't sleep very good; just 20-30 minutes at a time. That improved throughout the week so I feel she was adjusting ok. She was definitely happy to see me when I picked her up. Dad is dropping her off every morning while Mom deals with Lexi and then Mom picks up both girls at the end of the day.

Lexi woke up on Thursday and vomited a little so Dad stayed home with her. She was sluggish all day and did lots of napping though didn't have a temperature until late in the day. Friday was an inservice day so she was going to stay home anyway. She has seemed mostly normal since then but with not much of an appetite and getting tired easily. Today (Monday) there was also no school and I hope when she wakes up tomorrow she feels normal again.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the ground. It had frozen on top though so it was rather crunchy on the grass. Lexi stomped around in it a bit then declared she was cold and had to go back inside. We had lesson #2 of her swimming lessons; it did not go smoothly. Lexi was excited to go and did the first thing just fine but then pretty much cried and protested through the rest of it. I think it was a combination of feeling cold (the kids sat on the ledge of the pool while the teacher explained something) and then being scared. I am praying that next week goes better. I really don't want her to be scared of the water.

Fun Friday

I spent some time at Lexi's school this morning, the last time for a while as I won't be available during the day anymore. When she signed in, she wrote her whole first name without any help! Hoorah! She's finally got it - she used to get half way through and then need assistance with which letter came next.

I went to the All School Meeting with her class. All grades up through 2nd grade meet in the gym where they have a "meeting". The agenda is posted up front so everyone can see it and they go in order. Awards are given out for kids who have been nice or worked hard, people who had birthdays in December were recognized and everyone brought a book and spent 3 minutes reading (after singing a chant about reading). It was neat to see Lexi participating - doing hand signs when called for, chanting along with everyone else.

I told the class after snack time that this would be the last time that Natalie and I would be coming in as I had to go back to work.

At recess, I noticed that Lexi does seem to be quite popular. She was certainly leading the pack around the playground.

Yesterday they had International Food Day and asked us to bring something in so there would be a little bit for everyone to try. I brought in couscous. They had so much food, the couscous was consumed today. Many kids told me that they had never had it before.

Natalie has been particularly vocal today. Not sure if it is because of going to school or what.

Sleep patterns

Natalie can go for 5.5 hours without eating. Sounds good right? Unfortunately, that is happening during the day (early morning) and not during the night time hours when I would like it too. I have been trying to get her out of that pattern this week by feeding her a little earlier than she is asking to eat during the evening. Not sure if that is really working though last night she did manage two 4 hour stretches of sleep before she needed to eat again. Who knows what going to the day care will do for her patterns? I hope she will take the bottle for them. We haven't tried again in over a week but the last 3 times we tried, she refused - except from me. She drank from the bottle when I held it. Go figure.

Natalie is also a very wet baby. She drools a lot and is constantly putting her hands in her mouth. Then she wants to grab your hand and you end up with a really gross hand! We have been putting bibs on her so she doesn't soak her clothes and the bibs end up drenched within hours it seems like.

Stephen's reflections on Christmas

For the second year in a row, we hosted Christmas this year in D.C. My (Stephen’s) parents came from Seattle again, but none of Sarah’s family came (last year was our year to spend it with that side of the family officially). In their place, we had my brother Andy from NYC come down with his partner and his sister (Michelle, who lives in D.C. as well), and their parents came from Texas to spend Christmas with all of us.

As I expected, it was a full weekend of nonstop eating (and cleaning up, followed by immediate preparation for the next big meal). We started on Friday night with a dinner at our house. We kicked off the Christmas weekend with a Swiss-style meal – three types of fondue: traditional cheese, meats cooked in an oil fondue, and vegetables cooked in a broth fondue. Saturday mid-afternoon we gathered at Michelle’s place in her apartment’s common room and joined some of her other friends for a potluck. And Sunday we were back at our house for a brunch and dinner.

Lexi enjoyed having people around again nonstop after the many weeks earlier this fall when various family members visited us for Natalie’s birth and baptism. She especially enjoyed all the attention from Uncles Andy and Russell, who tried to match her silliness. Uncle Andy did several art projects with her that involved constructing funny hats or horses and a number of other things. And she appreciated having the grandparents around who could take her to the playground.

For the past few weeks, Natalie has matured a bit and has been engaged when people get close to her. She lets out a big grin whenever someone gets close to her face and smiles or talks to her. So she, in her own way, had fun and participated with all of the people around.

At the early service at Christmas Eve at church for families, we, the four Padres, were asked to play the part of the Holy Family. Presumably this was because we have a newborn – Natalie – who was able to play the part of the Baby Jesus. This did not involve any speaking parts for any of us. Lexi was very nervous about the whole thing and did not want to wear the donkey costume that was provided, so Uncle Andy ended up making her a homemade hobby horse out of recycled packing paper and the cardboard roll from a roll of wrapping paper. Both Sarah and I had parts to play in the late service that night, so she and I went back to church while everybody else stayed at home and babysat and slept.

So, all in all, it was a busy and full week with many people around and much going on.

Natalie's first airplane ride, camping and more

On January 1st, Natalie, Lexi and Sarah flew to Salt Lake City to spend 5 days with Aunt Miriam and family (including Granny and Grandpa who were still there). Natalie did very well on the airplane; in fact, both girls were great travelers. It helped that Lexi was older, it was a direct flight and we checked our luggage. On the flight back, we even received wings for both girls; Lexi promptly asked to pin hers to her shirt. We will save Natalie's for her.

We had a great time in SLC. Lexi really enjoyed playing with her cousins - and playing with all of their toys! She was also not as scared around their dog, even managing to pet Katie at one point though she would often skirt around her to avoid the possibility of brushing up against her. Lexi and cousins went to a farm to check out the animals (and sit on a tractor), walked to the library, visited the aviary and a playground in the park and went to ice skating lessons. Lexi was not thrilled with the ice skating - she said she was cold and started crying and quit early. One day, Grandpa took the Padre ladies up into the mountains so Lexi could see and play in the snow a little bit. There wasn't a ton of snow in the mountains but we did find some to poke around in for a bit.

For New Year's Eve, the Padres went to a Lutheran family camp session. We played games, square danced, did crafts and ate very well. Lexi was very excited about going to camp and enjoyed staying in the cabin though she didn't like the stink bugs in the room. She needed help avoiding them to be able to cross the floor. Sarah also tried the zipline the camp has and decided once was enough. I didn't like it at all - it made me nauseous. With the exception of Natalie, we were all awake to ring in the new year. Our girls were the youngest at the camp and got lots of attention; Lexi caught the attention of the counselors and one of the teens and had a ball with her new "friends".

Once back in DC, Lexi started her swimming lessons. They are for 30 minutes every Saturday through end of February. I was a little worried about her being scared but she did great. It is an adult/child set up so either Mom or Dad will be with her in the water each lesson. She jumped off the side of the pool happily into Mom's arms and even dunked her head under without too much fussing.

Christmas

Lexi was definitely more aware of Christmas - including the idea of getting presents - this year. She is also more aware of the Christmas story and helped play the Holy Family in the Christmas Eve early service at our church. Lexi was the donkey that accompanied Mary and Joseph (and Baby Jesus aka Natalie) to Bethlehem. As Lexi didn't want to wear the provided donkey hat, Uncle Andy was kind enough to fashion her a hobby horse out of cardboard/chipboard from the recycling bin. It was quite a hit at the service and with a little coaxing she managed to walk up the aisle with it and then sit quietly in front of the congregation with Mom and Dad. Natalie also did a great job and slept through 95% of the service with only a little jiggling to keep her calm.

While interested in the presents, Lexi didn't spend much time checking out the presents under the tree in advance or asking if she could open something early. She certainly got lots of nice things - a good assortment of clothes, books and toys. Next year, we want to try and reduce on the number of things she gets as we sometimes feel overwhelmed by all of the stuff we own.

Santa brought Lexi a scooter. This was a much discussed purchase as Lexi had been requesting a Dora kitchen after pouring over the toy catalog that came with one of the Sunday papers before Thanksgiving. We decided to not go with that as we were worried she would grow out of it soon (she is almost 4.5 after all). So far she has been pleased with the scooter and hasn't asked at all about the kitchen. She fairly confidently rides it though doesn't do the trick where you build up speed and then coast.

Natalie - not unexpectedly - hardly noticed the gifts for her at all. In fact, Mom and Dad didn't even get her anything. She also received several toys that I think she will find interesting in the months to come and books to enjoy.

We didn't have a white Christmas and Lexi declared that it couldn't be Christmas if there wasn't snow. I do want to take her ice skating as she is interested in trying to go again this year.

For New Year's we are going to a Lutheran family camp for a couple of nights. It's an hour away from DC and we return home on the 1st when Lexi, Natalie and I will fly out to SLC to visit Miriam and family (including my parents who are still there). I am really looking forward to it.