Joy to the World

Man, I'm so tired, but if I don't write now, I suspect another weekend will go by without a post.

Kid A has not slept through the night since that first night, but nights are definitely easier since she's transitioned from nursing to exclusively formula. In fact, life in general has been easier. I think that, because I knew she wasn't getting enough from nursing, but I didn't know how much more she needed, supplementing with formula was always such a guessing game. Does she need 2 ounces or 3? Is she really still hungry, or is it time to try to get her to sleep? Is she hungry, or is it gas? Since the wean, it has been so easy. Now she's up to four ounces per bottle, and she wants a bottle every 2 hours or so. She makes these little grunts when she's hungry, and if she doesn't look tired during a feeding, that means she's still up and ready for more playing. It's just terrific, being able to tell what she wants and meeting those needs. Life is sweet these days.

Here's some things that she is NOT doing yet:
* sitting up on her own
* teething
* rolling over
* laughing (much)
* eating cereal (she plays with the spoon every few days, though)

What she IS doing:
* Standing. As often as possible, for as long as possible.
* Holding the bottle during feedings, and practicing putting it into and taking it out of her mouth.
* Refusing the pacifier. This started maybe two weeks ago, and she has been consistent both in refusing it when offered, and no longer needing it when going to sleep.
* Grabbing her feet
* Looking for dropped toys and trying to get them back
* Continuing her love affair with her hands and everyone else's
* Babbling, squealing, and raspberry-ing

This morning, Kid A and I went out to Peet's while TM slept in. On our way back, we stopped off at Home Depot, because they had some living Christmas trees on display. I picked out a tree and had them set it aside, and later in the day, TM and I went back with Kid A and purchased the tree and some new lights. TM did a little research when we got home, and learned that our tree shouldn't be indoors for more than 10 days, so instead of putting it up this weekend, we'll put it off a week. I'm going to try to put up some lights outside tomorrow.

I also called my mom today, since TM had more work to do today than he'd originally anticipated, and asked her to come down and help out with a little babysitting. Fortunately, she was able to spring into action and came in the late afternoon. Ironically, Kid A went down for a nap just a few minutes before Mom got here, and napped for about three hours. But Mom and I spent some time visiting while I dusted and put up a few Christmas decorations, and we even made a little garland out of old-fashioned colored glass ball ornaments and white curling ribbon. It's hanging from the curtain rod above our sliding glass door, and it looks very festive. When Kid A woke up, Mom played with her while TM and I rushed around, vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms and whatnot. All in all, it was a great visit.

Tomorrow, we'll head back into our native lands to visit friends. Originally, the plan was to make eggnog, but now it looks as though we will be making gingerbread houses! How fun. We're also going to have a brief visit with some friends who just had a baby boy about a month ago.

December is already feeling so crunched: we have our first family Christmas gathering the weekend before Christmas at my mom's (my cousin and his wife and their twin boys will be in California over Christmas, and their first stop is my aunt's house, who lives across the street from my mom). That means I only have 2 weekends to get ready for Christmas, and this one's already half over! I'm kind of in denial about it.

My interview on Thursday went fine, I think. It's out of my control now. I did my best; we'll just wait and see.