Monthly Archives: November 2011

It’s Thanksgiving

Everyone is posting about what they are thankful for, and it makes me realize that I have a lot to be thankful for, despite all the challenges that our little family has dealt with this year.

I am grateful for my daughter, Selina, she’s my biggest reason to be thankful this year.  Tonight she is sleeping sweetly in her crib, unswaddled, and looking like a little angel.  She was so well-behaved (except when I put her down for her naps) while we cooked, cleaned and got the house ready for my family visit.  I am glad she is healthy, although I would really like to figure out a fool-proof way to deal with her dry skin, and a way to conquer her cradle cap.

After all my mom’s comments, she ended up coming to Seattle after all, although she wouldn’t stop talking about how traumatizing it was for her.  I think she came because she didn’t want to miss out on Selina’s first Thanksgiving.  The sad part was that I forgot to take pictures of our feast!

We ended up with roast turkey (roasted upside down and brined with Gus’ secret spice recipe), mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, salad, rolls, baked beans, corn, asparagus, Dutch apple pie, pumpkin pie, Jello cheesecake with dark chocolate and homemade berry topping.  I killed that cheesecake, it was soooo good with the berry and dark chocolate layer.  All I did was melt some dark chocolate, and poured a thin layer of it over the graham cracker crust, then I put in the cheesecake layer, and used my berry mix sauce on top.  The berries consisted of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, and they were just the right mix of sweet and tart.

Speaking of decadence, I managed to lose 4 lbs this week, although I think I gained a few back today, haha.  I’m trying to do the 30-day shred, and I’ve been doing it since last week, and I only missed two days.  I can’t tell that my figure is improving, but I’m satisfied that my weight is going down.  This is the first time I’ve dropped weight in over a month and a half, so naturally I’m really glad that the hard work is paying off so quickly.  I still have a lot to lose, around 15 lbs, but that won’t be too bad if I’m dropping the weight so quickly.

I’m pretty tired so I think I’ll crash, but I’ll say one last thing, I am very grateful that I survived this year, that I have a little girl, that my husband still loves me and that everyone’s health is good.

3 1/2 Months

My little pumpkin is getting so grown up!  She’s been learning all sorts of new games and now she is laughing!  I admit, you have to kinda laugh or fake laugh as you go but she’ll do it!

She started wearing 6 month sleepers at 3 months, she is growing length-wise, but not really getting chubby, except for her limbs and face.  I noticed the other day that her face got rounder somehow, thank goodness I’m getting better at taking videos of her now, although that means I have been lax about taking photos!

I am also trying out some patterns to make her some soft cotton pants.  Ideally I would love to make her pajamas in cotton, such as a kimono top and some matching pants.  I was really interested in making her dresses though.  Old-school fluffy dresses are my secret love.  Still not a fan of pink.

I went through her clothes and pulled all the 6 month sleepers.  As a FTM (first-time mom), I learned a secret about baby clothes.  The first clothing items that she grew out of was her sleepers, the ones with the long legs and sometimes have little footies attached them.  Then she grew out of her pants, then her jackets and then finally she grew out of her onesies.   I think it is because she is growing longer, and hasn’t gotten chunky.  It’s funny how she’s turning out to look like Gus, physically.  She has the same body type as him, which is good, she should have a healthy body shape through-out her life if I teach her good eating habits.

I keep forgetting to get her ears pierced, mostly because we need to make an appointment with her pediatrician.  We have two pairs of earrings for her, one from her grandparents and the other pair from Raju-virji and family.  Raju-virji’s family also got her some party dresses and a high chair, which I put together (practically no installation).  She likes the high chair so far, it’s nice to put her there when I make breakfast. She likes it better than lying on the floor.

Anyway, let’s hope this week will go better.  She’s been on a weird sleep cycle, where she hardly naps during the day and by evening she’s so dead that she’ll sleep for 5-6 hours (until I wake her).  I am not sure what to do to make her more amenable to naps.  It’s a mom-dilemma.

I also found out that my mom isn’t coming for Thanksgiving.  She is determined not to come because she said that Snoqualmie Pass will be snowy and that she doesn’t want to deal with it, even if it is clear.  I don’t know why she’s being like that, but she seems to want to be alone for Thanksgiving, she already bought a turkey.  I don’t get it honestly, I asked to consider keeping an eye on the pass and coming whenever it is clear, so she can come but she got really grouchy and said she wasn’t going to do it, period.  I don’t know what to do with her sometimes.