Monthly Archives: August 2012

Why is my eleven-month-old suddenly waking up multiple times overnight?

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The above title is the phrase that I typed into Google the other morning.  I had to make sure Google understood that Lula has been a through-the-night sleeper for a long time now.

we need more of this…

Last week, coincidentally the night of the Phish concert, Lula woke up when we were gone and her babysitters kept her up until we got home.  Fortunately, she woke up just under an hour before our return so it wasn’t a big deal.  I nursed her back to sleep and it was 1 AM when I left her room.

At 2 AM, I heard a great deal of crying and worried, rushed into her room to see what was the matter.  She was standing up in her crib, crying pretty hard, so I picked her up and nursed her again until she fell asleep.

At 4:45 AM, the exact same scenario played out.

Needless to say, everybody was dragging the following day.

Fast-forward to Thursday night.

Lula cried and “crib-stood” at 10 PM, 11 PM, and 12:30 AM.  I nursed her each time but eventually decided that she clearly wasn’t hungry.  Also, she wanted nothing to do with teething toys.  By the last wake-up, I was at my wit’s end (as I type this, I’m thinking to myself, was it really that big of a deal?) so I had to, as Hootie and the Blowfish would say, just let her cry (I died a little inside when I typed that).  She cried/whined off and on for about 30 minutes- it’s all kind of hazy now- and everyone slept soundly the rest of the night.

Both Friday and Saturday nights, she continued to wake up at 10-ish.  It dawned on me that I was establishing a dangerous precedent if I continued to nurse her every time she woke up crying.  In fact, it seemed as though we were slipping right back into her newborn routine.

Sunday night, I decided that if she woke up, I would check on her and if all was okay, leave her room.  Like clockwork, around 10 PM, her crying woke me up.  I was indeed already asleep.  I went into her room, changed her diaper, patted her tummy, and departed.  She cried for less than a minute and silence prevailed the rest of the overnight.

Monday night as we were doing our bedtime routine, she fell asleep while nursing.  Once I placed her in the crib, she woke up and immediately rolled onto her belly and got into a standing position (all while crying).  This took place in under five seconds.  I laid her back down, she proceeded to repeat the performance, and I tried again.  No luck.  I left her room, she cried for thirty seconds, silence.

Her 7 PM antics told me this was her overnight wake-up routine and that nothing was wrong, she just needed to get herself back to sleep.

I think she cried out at 10 PM for a half-second but we never heard her again that night…it seemed as though letting her figure things out must have worked.

A helpful article from BabyCenter mentioned that babies who are close to crawling, walking, or some other milestone will frequently engage in this wakeful behavior.  When I mentioned our situation to my sister, she agreed that it seemed like my nephew Rocco had done the same thing.

While on Twitter, someone tweeted a link to this article…great.  If you are too lazy to click, the title of the post is “Cry It Out: The Method That Kills Baby Brain Cells”.  Thoughts on this?  I think each parent’s situation is different.

Anyway, since this behavior began, I’ve been trying to let her crawl as much as I possibly can during the day.  The past few nights, she hasn’t woken up at all.

thank you

It’s funny to me that in the thick of stressful times like this one (2 AM anybody?), I can’t help but think that this is the end of the world and that from now on, Lula is always going to wake up multiple times overnight.  After a day or two of reflection, I rediscover my optimism.

I hear that toddler sleep is hardcore because of all the exercise they engage in…I am looking forward to that!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Our Garden: Part IX

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Good morning!

Well, it’s been awhile since I posted anything about our garden.  And for the record, I did end up googling “roman numeral 9″.  It made sense once I saw it, I swear…

Reasons for lack of posting?

I think this picture says it all.

A combination of heat, bugs, a crawling baby that shadows my every step, vacations, and a lack of interest have led to its demise.

Let’s take a look back a few months ago…

Ahhh, the glory days.  Everything was green and lush.  There was still produce to pick.  I could actually see the stepping stones and could walk on them if I chose to.  And now, not.

Sadly, this is what the produce looks like.These little orange and black bugs are covering every viable veggie the garden has produced.  I feel like it might be due to the drought we’ve been experiencing here in Kansas…bugs need to hydrate too, and this is the way they have gone about doing so.

In the 5 years we’ve been gardening, I’ve never seen these guys before.

Here’s another example.And whether ripe or not, each piece of produce these bugs land on has been decimated.  Even green tomatoes have been affected and are full of ugly brown spots and holes.

Happily, we harvested a fair number of onions.

After letting them sit on the deck in the hot sun for a few weeks, Pa snipped the ends off and they are now continuing to dry out in the house, resting on brown paper bags to ensure rot doesn’t occur.  We usually keep our onions in the basement, as cool and dry a space as we have.  Also, it makes me feel a little bit like Ma Ingalls.

Finally, and perhaps most excitingly, the garden did produce two of these!Two PUMPKINS, not babies!

This will be Lula’s Halloween pumpkin…if it survives.

Once the first frost is near, we will take a cool Sunday morning to tear the garden apart and rip out the enormous vegetable plants.  For now, they serve as one more spot that weeds can’t grow, so I am happy leaving it all as is.

Have a great Wednesday!

 

Phish at Starlight Theatre

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Hey people!  I hope your Monday is off to a great start.  Our weekend was pretty good, very relaxed, and full of crawling and exploring.  Lula’s overnights have continued to be weird and I’ll post more about that soon, however, today’s post is all about Phish.  I had so much fun writing and reminiscing!

Note: Some of the pictures you see below were taken in 2003 and 2004

Here goes!  I mentioned in passing that Pa and I and his sister caught Phish last Wednesday night. (ha)  It was so much fun.

I lived in Vermont for most of my childhood so I knew of the band Phish since they got their start in Burlington. Ironically, I never really liked them that much until I moved away.

If you don’t know their music, you might have seen or indulged in some Phish food ice cream put out by Ben and Jerry’s- what a combination of Vermont favorites!  Phish is known for being a jam band and like it or not, the group is most often compared to The Grateful Dead.  Some of their songs (live versions) have been known to last for 20 minutes or more and they have a huge following, hippies usually being the first “phans” people think of.

Pa is a huge fan and has seen them 31 times, I believe.  They tour all the time and when you are a college student, what better way to spend a big part of your summer than taking a road trip somewhere to catch a show?

Phish at The Gorge, 2003

I won’t mention the disgusting bathroom situation or not having access to showers for a few days at time. :)

Before going into the show, there is usually a lot to walk around in.  Here you can find anything you ever dreamed of related to the hippie culture.  Dreadlocks on white people everywhere you look.  Tie-dyed shirts en masse. People who have been to every show on the tour and probably haven’t taken a shower in weeks.  A lot of “dudes” and “mans” in conversations overheard.  A guy on a bike with a basket full of bananas…you get the idea.

For sale on what is fondly referred to as Shakedown Street?

yes, that’s me in purple, selling my wares at IT in 2003

Crystals, hemp necklaces, Phish t-shirts, onesies, beer, grilled cheese, burritos, goo balls, patchwork skirts, tops and so much more.  There is a lot to observe and it can definitely be overwhelming.

I haven’t been to a show in years and it was really fun to be back in the throes of the Phish community and to once again witness the sheer joy that Phish brings to their concert attendees.

The venue was really cool.  It’s called the Starlight Theatre and is located in Kansas City, MO.  The employees of the Starlight were some of the nicest people I have ever dealt with at a concert.  I was really impressed, especially because a lot of Phish fans are kind of…well…weird. :)  Talking about myself here, of course.

The show was a blast and we were all exhausted when it was over.  I am pretty sure that me, Pa, and Pa’s sister were in the minority of those present who weren’t buzzing on something.  And the dancing?  Oh my, it is guaranteed to put a smile on your face…grown men dancing with arms and legs flailing and bodies writhing?  Awesome.  A few of the fellas in front of us were playing a mean air guitar as well.

The crowd was mostly people in their late 20s to early 40s and I was very surprised at how many people were smoking at the show.  I feel like a fair number of people smoke socially while in college but most of the concert goers I saw smoking are clearly out in the “real world” so to speak.  As much as I loved the show, constant cigarette smoke in my face was not loved by me.

One thing that was loved by me?  I ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri (too tired from late nights with Lula to want liquor) and the woman working asked if she could see my ID before it dawned on her that I didn’t want alcohol in it.  Now that’s something I can get behind. :)

A few of these photos are from our archives, meaning they are almost ten years old.  Here’s a picture of me in 2004 at Coventry, enjoying a brief respite from the mud by burning a CD of my favorite Phish songs, a cool perk of the festival.A few old photos of festivals for your viewing pleasure.

IT, 2003

IT, 2003

glow stick “wars”

back in the days of lighters instead of phones

Have a great day!

Fab Friday

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Oh my, how this week has flown.  Pa’s sister is in town so I have been mostly Twitter and blog-free.  I must admit that it is somewhat freeing, but I am looking forward to writing more posts and blog readin’ next week.

One of the main reasons for her visit was catching Phish on Wednesday night in KC.

image

What?  We were hippies back in the day.  Ones that still showered, mind you.

image

Lula did not attend the concert.  She was, however, awake when we got home.  Her sleep has been all over the place for the last week and it is getting a teeny, tiny bit taxing.  I want to see more of this out of her!

I will post more photos on Monday of the concert- it was a really cool venue that I hope to return to someday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Minnesota Bound Part III

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Good morning and happy Tuesday!  We had a great weekend that included some wonderfully chilly mornings- hooray!  Fall is on its way!  Is it bad that I am already looking for Coffeemate seasonal creamers whenever I at at a grocery store?

Lula is on the move and boy has that made things a lot busier.  I am actually really glad because she is so much happier now that she can get where she wants to go but it means a lot less time on the computer, which in the grand scheme of things is probably good for me.

This post is the last in a series about our recent vacation.  Here are parts I and II.  Hopefully the first two weren’t too boring.  Hopefully this part isn’t either.

We left off just finishing up a run at my parent’s home.  After a fight, Lula finally took a much-needed nap and once she got up, we had a nice brunch and a surprise early birthday party for her, since my family won’t be around when she actually turns one.She got a ton of lovely gifts including a pair of jeggings!  I am so excited for her to wear them- they are size 18 months, so I’m going to have to be patient.

My mom and sister made her an adorable duck cake, which my step-father thought would look as a smoker.

Everyone ate cake, except for Lula, and then we all relaxed in the afternoon.  It was one of those cool, gray, dreary days where you don’t feel like doing anything.  I love those days.

Lula struggled with an afternoon nap and we gave up on that idea pretty quickly.

After a bath and some play time, she fell asleep nursing and was out cold.

We played a hilarious game of Scattergories before heading to bed.

Pa and I had an early departure ahead of us so we turned in pretty early.  Around 2 AM, I woke up to poor Lula crying away, so nursing was in order.  At 4:45 AM, more of the same.  This time, she would not go back to bed and after trying everything I could think of, I nursed her laying down and we both fell asleep like that.  It was a really special experience and I’m glad I have that trick up my sleeve for the next time we travel.

The drive home was full of clouds and once again, we stopped at a rest stop in far northern Missouri.  Surprisingly, this was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

There were a lot of trails to walk, complete with grasshoppers and native grasses.  Lula was able to explore a fair amount and I hope you are loving her clashing outfit colors and patterns as much as I am!  It was unexpectedly cool and we rolled with what was easily accessible.

We enjoyed a leisurely picnic before exploring a bit.

To top off our vacation, poor Lula got sick.  I’m grateful it didn’t happen until we got home.

She was so tired and crabby that we decided to get her to bed a little early after giving her some cereal that she wanted nothing to do with.

She conked out while I nursed her and about an hour later, she was crying in her crib.  I walked in and…she had thrown up and it was all over the place.  All she wanted to do was go back to sleep, but we had to clean her up first.

Pa dealt with her while I cleaned up the bedding.  It was so heart melting to watch him in action.  He gave her a sponge bath of sorts and then helped her out as she threw up some more.  We took her temperature even though she didn’t feel warm and it read 98.3.  After a few minutes of just holding her, I nursed her again, she fell asleep, and an hour later, it was like deja vu.  Throw up, crying, etc.

This time after we cleaned her up, we gave her a few minuscule sips of water to start her on the path to rehydration and Pa laid down with her on the couch until she fell asleep.  I skipped nursing her as we didn’t want to upset her stomach anymore than it already was.  We put her to bed and then went to bed ourselves.

I set an alarm for 11 and 2 so I could nurse her and make sure she was hydrated.  Her diaper was dry at 11 (which made sense after throwing up so much) so I nursed her until she fell asleep.  At 2 I got up and was relieved when I checked her diaper and it was so soaked I had to change it.  Phew!  I nursed her again until she was close to sleep and it was back to bed I went.

Although that was the end of the vomit, the following day she was super crabby and I made sure to nurse as much as I could (every two hours).  I didn’t give her any solid foods other than her cereal before bedtime that evening.  She ended up taking 4.5 hours of naps that day and conked out at bedtime so this little lady had a lot of recovering to do from her big trip.

Lula and her cousin Rocco

All in all, we had a great time on our vacation.  In the last few days of our adventure, Lula really had a tough time.  I think road trips and sleeping in new environments wear her out more than we realize.  I’m always grateful to get home and get her back into her own routine.  She is a trooper!

Have a great day!

Minnesota Bound Part II

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Hey, hey, hey and a happy Friday to you!

We are back in the swing of things and enjoying some wonderfully cool weather around here.

I’m still finishing up our trip posts before I get back to the usual.  A link to part I of our trip, if you missed it.

We spent the first leg of our trip with Pa’s sister.  The morning we were leaving her place, we went for a run around Lake Harriet.

We thought we had headed out early enough but we forgot it was Saturday…oh my, was it congested.  And with a stroller, it certainly made dodging people very exciting.

a rare bit of solitude

Still, a beautiful morning and I am so glad we went.  We ran around the lake once and then did a short out and back to get to 5 miles.  Even when vacation exhausts me, running gives me energy that I wouldn’t have otherwise.  It was also refreshing to see so many people out exercising.  We are lucky to see anyone else outside, let alone exercising, when we run in our little town.

We said goodbye to my sister-in-law and her husband (who we were meeting up with later in the evening) and headed to my parents who are about a half hour out of the cities.

Pa and I had been planning this trip since December…because the trip centered around seeing Coldplay on Saturday night.  We are huge Coldplay fans and even if you don’t love their music, the show itself is well worth it for the entertainment value.  Love them or hate them, Chris Martin and the other band members give one hundred percent to every performance they put on.

My parents were going to watch Lula and my sister’s son so we could all enjoy the concert sans kiddos.  Once we arrived, Lula immediately cozied up to my sister, Amy.

I think Lula was overwhelmed at this point- she was pretty quiet and seemed to be dragging and tired.  Additionally, as the time got closer to leaving her, I was getting more and more anxious and emotional.  I’m a big baby when it comes to leaving my daughter and I have only ever done it once before that evening.  My mom was clever and took her from me and distracted her so we could make a quick getaway.

We went out to eat before the show and enjoyed some adult time with our respective siblings and their husbands.

my gorgeous sister

There were two opening acts for Coldplay and no one in our party had any interest in seeing either one of them, so we took our time getting to the show.  I called my mom around 8 PM to see how Lula was doing.  She wasn’t sleeping yet and was pretty upset, but I knew she was in good hands and that we’d be seeing her in a few hours, so I relaxed and enjoyed myself.

We found our seats and got comfortable, taking a few photos and getting our bearings.

About a minute after Pa took this photo, cue theme music from Back To The Future (Coldplay’s introduction on this tour) and the show began!

In a word, it was fantastic.

On this tour, Coldplay distributed bracelets before every show that were synchronized to light up during certain songs.  I was very impressed and it was a clever gimmick that the audience loved.

Another neat part of the show featured an alternate stage embedded somewhere in the auditorium, which turned out to be below where we were sitting.

Chris Martin is the one in pink, and after the crowd went wild as he walked onto the stage, he commented that, “this is perhaps the best welcome any man has ever gotten who is wearing a pink t-shirt.”

The show wrapped up and we made our way back to my parent’s house.  It turned out that Lula didn’t get to bed until after 9 PM, this with minimal napping during the day, so we knew the poor thing was exhausted.

I went into her room to feed her and it took some time to get her back down but I’m glad I did and that she knew that we were back.

The alarm went off at 7 AM and I considered staying right where I was and going back to sleep but about 5 minutes later, I heard Lula start to cry and knew that I was up for the day and that Pa and I would be heading out for a run very quickly.

We had an extremely quiet and cool four mile run around a small lake with a nice bike path and once again, felt great for getting out there and getting it done.

We headed back to the house and had a nice day.  Part III of our trip (the last part) coming up soon!

Have a great day!

Minnesota Bound Part I

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Little known fact about the RMR family.

Frankie, Pa and I used to live in Min-nee-sooooo-tah back in the day.  It’s where Pa and I met during our undergraduate years, it’s where we got married, it’s where we adopted our first cat and it’s where both of our sisters and my parents currently live.

It was time to make an excursion “up north” happen.

As usual, the visit went by way too fast, we had a great time, and we were exhausted and ready for another vacation when we arrived home on Monday afternoon.

So let’s backtrack to last Thursday morning.  After a long night of packing and cleaning, we knew we had to run in the morning.  You might be thinking that it’s called vacation for a reason but believe me, Pa and I have taken many a vacation and skipped running and the results are not pretty.

After the run and showers, we made a mad dash to get everything done, all this while trying to entertain a crawling baby who was on the cusp of being overtired.  We were on the road by 10 and had a wonderful drive up to Minnesota which included a great place to stop for lunch.

This was a nice rest stop in far north Missouri and we stopped for almost an hour, allowing Lula to explore and enjoy a change of scenery.

There were a lot of clouds on the drive there, which is always a good thing.By the way, is it a rite of passage to learn to drive only in the left lane if you grow up in Minnesota?  I swear, every time we enter the state, immediately we see Minnesotans using the left lane as the default lane.I actually came up on people who were driving in the left lane, not another car in sight.  When they saw me, they moved into the right lane and after I passed, immediately got back in the left lane.  This is the kind of thing that Pa and I discussed for hours on the drive.  We had to stay awake, after all.

I nursed whenever we stopped, and although this looks idyllic, it was getting pretty hot out and was quite uncomfortable in reality.  Sitting in the car was a lot easier.

Lula slept for most of the drive, fitfully I might add, because once I put her down for bed that evening after we got to Jake’s sister’s home, none of us heard a thing until we woke her up the next morning!

Blissfully, Pa and I slept until 7 AM and started our day by…going to Target to shop.  Seems like a reasonable way to start a vacation, right?  We needed a few essentials we forgot to pack- namely, a Starbucks latte for me.

After a relaxing morning which included Lula taking a “real” morning nap without tears (who is this kid?), we headed out for a picnic lunch at Minnehaha Falls (in the heart of Minneapolis).

It was a beautiful day, especially in comparison to the weather we had been having back home, and we were happy to eat a leisurely lunch and do some people watching.In preparation for the trip, I packed a number of Baby Bullets for Lula full of black beans, sweet potato, onion, and green bean.  Surprisingly, she wanted NOTHING to do with this mixture.  I ended up eating some of it and after a few days of the flavors melding, I must admit that it tasted pretty terrible.

After our picnic, we headed to IKEA which has become an annual event.  Emily, from Joyful Abode, blogged about these potty seats and Pa and I made a mental note months ago to pick up a few.  In preparation for whenever potty training begins, we purchased three.  We also found some awesome gifts for my nephews and exhausted ourselves wandering around.

We ended the day with delicious grilled food and lots of good conversation.

Part II coming soon…

Have a wonderful day!!

Semi-Healthy Peanut Buttery & Dark Chocolate Brownies

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Hey folks!  Happy Tuesday!  We are playing catch up from a busy weekend away that I’m looking forward to posting about soon.  In the meanwhile, I’ve got a recipe involving chocolate and baking since fall is on the way which means my oven will be getting a whole lot more use!

My go-to brownies are this kind from Betty Crocker.  When I was pregnant, these were fantastic when many of my typical treats sounded disgusting.  My only complaint?  I like middle pieces- no edges please!  When is someone going to invent a baking dish that does that?  :)

However, when I want something a little healthier, the recipe below has served me well for the past five or six years.  I used to make these as a dessert when I was teaching but somewhere along the way, I forgot they existed.  I’m so glad I rediscovered them.

They are based on this recipe by Liz Applegate and I have made some tweaks.  I’m offering two recipes here- one with flax seeds and one with wheat germ.

Semi-Healthy Peanut Buttery Brownies with Flax Seeds only ’cause I was out of wheat germ so tried to experiment

3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

3 ounces Reese’s Pieces

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

1/3 cup peanut flour

1/3 cup ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 egg whites

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

handful of Reese’s Pieces

+Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

+On stove top, melt chocolate, Reese’s Pieces, and butterI was ready to stop here and just eat this concoction

+Once melted, turn off heat

+Measure dry goods into a bowl and whisk together (oats, flour, flax seed and baking powder)

+Measure sugar, vanilla and 4 egg whites into another bowl and whisk together- these get thick quickly which is what you are looking for

+Slowly fold together chocolate-butter-pb concoction into egg whites-vanilla-sugarthought this would be a pretty smooth pour to capture- it ended up looking chunky and hideous

+Add dry goods to wet, gently stir everything together

+Add more Reese’s Pieces to the batter if you are obsessed with them

+Spray a 8X8 or 9X9 pan with cooking spray

+Pour in batter and even it out+Bake 25 minutes+Cut when you are readyThe flax seed version was definitely more cake-like and less fudgy.  I enjoyed them but fudgy brownies are where it’s at.  Of the two recipes, I definitely like the wheat germ ones better.

Semi-Healthy Dark Chocolate Brownies with wheat germ

6 ounces dark chocolate chips

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup quick-cooking oats

1/3 cup peanut flour

1/3 cup toasted wheat germ

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 egg whites

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

handful dark chocolate chips

Follow the instructions on the flax seed brownie recipe above, just be sure to sub dark chocolate chips and wheat germ!

dark chocolate batter

my favorite of the two recipes

Have a wonderful day!!!

Munchkin Meals: A Day In The Life

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Happy Thursday everybody!

Thanks to Brittany for hosting Munchkin Meals!

My daughter Lula is ten months old.

Hello!

A typical day of food for her looks like this.

At 7:15, 9:15 & 11:15, I nurse Miss Lula on both sides.  (Each nursing session lasts between 15-20 minutes)

At lunchtime, she sits at her high chair and eats a “real” meal. Because I am lazy, I often cook up a bunch of veggies for my dinner and set aside a nice-sized portion of them for her to enjoy over the next few days.

This particular day, she enjoyed sauteed onion, sweet potato, and pepper, peeled red grapes, and one of the last sweet potato zucchini black bean pancakes.

perspective

She ate most of it, although the peppers were kind of tricky for her.  She has a tough time swallowing them if they aren’t really limp so I ended up eating some of the bigger pieces.  I think until she is better at swallowing peppers, I will puree them like Katie did.

I also offered water through a straw a few times during the meal.She’s getting the hang of it!

At 2:30 & 4:30 I nursed her on both sides.

At 6:30 she enjoyed carrot puree mixed with iron-fortified oatmeal and a little breast milk.

Finally, at 6:45, I nursed her on both sides and then it was bedtime.

And…that’s a day of eats in the life of Lula!

Have a great Thursday!

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