Last Couple of Weeks

Here's a quick rundown of the last couple of weeks:

*I turned 27! Fairly quiet, but we did go to a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday with my parents and Nelson baked me a delicious birthday cake. Nelson took me to Ikea to pick out new dishes, which we desperately needed. Fun day!

*On my birthday, I discovered that I fit into all my old pants!!! Hooray!!! Of course, I had already given up on this happening and had gone out and bought 3 new pairs of pants, which are now way too big. Who cares?? I am basically back to the size/weight that I was before I got pregnant. Now to work off that extra bit too....one step at a time! I'm walking about an hour every weekday and I'm going to start Jazzercise after our bills are paid off, which should be in the new year.

*We've done a couple more activities with our mommy group, including a craft day at someone's house and a trip to the Children's Museum. Both were fun and it was nice meeting new people.

*We had a huge bake sale at church to raise money for our planned mission trip next summer. Our church family is VERY generous and we made over $270! At a bake sale?? That's crazy! Praise God!

*Kalaya learned to jump in her Jumperoo and I swear she is going to jump out of it! She just loves that toy. I am starting to feel like a bad parent some times, because she will play in it for 45 minutes and not need me! She is definitely learning how to play independently. The down side: I have memorized the farm songs it plays and they are constantly stuck in my head!

*Kalaya had now tasted sweet potatoes and winter squash. She is still skeptical about both. We are easing her into solids veeerrrryyy sllllooooowwwwllllyy to be sure that she doesn't have any allergies to foods, since Nelson has nut and fruit allergies. That means NO surprise tastings just to see her reaction. (I am nervous about relatives trying this "fun" game during the holidays) And, we are not giving her any foods that her pediatrician most often cause an allergic reaction; nuts, berries, dairy products, shellfish, etc until she's at least had her 9 month appointment, probably until she's a year. My goal is also no precessed food until she's 2, especially refined sugar. If grandparents and other friends don't want to comply, Kalaya will not get passed around. Period. Sounds really harsh, but I feel really strongly about this. She does really well with rice cereal mixed with breast milk. She hasn't been interested in bananas too much, though she will eat them. I'm about to introduce pears and apples.

*Pippy had a big adventure! She went into the vet to get her teeth cleaned and we knew she needed 2 pulled. $500 later, she is now missing a total of 7 teeth! (God bless my parents for helping with the bill!) You would never know she had it done, she has been the same happy, outgoing Pippy! I was really frustrated at first, because I do a LOT to keep her teeth healthy; brushing once a week or more, Greenies, and special tooth diet food. The vet told me that her mouth actually looked great, that most dachshunds by this age need 12-15 teeth pulled. Sheesh! That made me feel better. And our vet should know, she has 5 dachshunds! Pippy is still recovering and taking meds, which she is great about. She is the best dog and worth the money to take care of her teeth. Hopefully this will help her to be with us for many years to come!

*I had my first official outing away from Kalaya. It had to be short, since she is still mostly nursing, but I managed to go to a movie with my friend Sarah, while Nelson and her husband Joel stayed home with the babies. I was gone about 3 hours. The movie was fun, we went to see New Moon, soooooo good! I need to read the books again. However, I don't think I'll leave for much longer than that again and definitely not with anyone but Nelson. I guess she was fairly fussy while I was gone and as soon as I walked in the door, she lit up and snuggled up with me. She kept touching and looking at my face, so sweet! She then proceeded to do a long nurse and was totally fine for a couple of hours after that. Nelson said he tried to let Joel take her for a bit and she totally melted down. So, sorry grandparents, probably no time with Kalaya without mommy until she's weaned. And that will be at least another year, if not more. Plus, she pretty much won't nap without nursing. This is, of course, fine with me, but it makes for difficult babysitting! : ) It was a good experience though!