Epilogue -- 7 Months Old

In my P.S. post, I mentioned that I had given out a link on my autobiography blog. It was so you could read the following post. (However, today I decided to bring the post over here so that now it's only on THIS site. So, technically, this was my final post. . .you can think of it as an epilogue, haha.) The following was written/published on February 15, 2012 (Krissa's 7 Month Birthday):
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Since I ended my ABC Sweet Moments blogsite kind of abruptly, I decided it only made sense to tie up loose ends from my last update (Starting To Crawl). So, here's what I would have written had I continued the blogsite (minus pictures which you can see on our picasa site at http://picasaweb.google.com/ajrodgerskids). It is long, so I broke it into 7 parts for if you don't want to read it all in one sitting.

PART ONE

Krissa was really into making raspberry sounds during the month of January. Especially, every time she ate cereal! Logan thought it was hilarious, so he encouraged her to do it more which Joe & I didn't care for because she'd spit her cereal out at us (as in, all over us -- our foreheads, our clothes, etc.), rather than digesting it. We finally got Logan to stop egging her on, but when she'd still do it, he'd laugh hysterically. We admit that we both laughed a couple of times, too...it was hard not to! (And yes, I am aware this was the first of many times in the future that my son will be egging on my daughter to do naughty things...it'll be Logan and Krissa against Mommy and Daddy, I'm sure, sometimes.)

So, since she seemed bored with cereal, we started her on carrots Feb 1st (rather than March 1st which had been my original plan). (She was 6.5 months old, Logan was right at 6 months.) She LOVES carrots (eats the entire container) so now she only eats cereal for breakfast. We started her on squash a week later (on Feb 8th) and sweet potatoes this past weekend (the 11th) -- both she really enjoys, too, so we are giving her a veggie for lunch and another for dinner. (By the way, with Logan I always pumped breastmilk into his cereal but this time I've been using the formula the hospital gave me after giving birth. I haven't pumped since we moved in our new house so it's a good thing we were able to get a refund for the breast pump.)

I finally found a sippy cup that Krissa likes, so hopefully she'll be able to drink well from it, soon.

Back in December when Krissa turned 5 months old, I mentioned that she understood the word dog/doggie. Well, it wasn't long after that when it became obvious that she also understood "Daddy," "Logan," "Mommy," "Naptime," and "Do you want to nurse?"

On Feb 12th (3 days before turning 7 months old) she said "Dadda" for the first time! She had said "mama" on two occasions but I wasn't for sure whether she was REALLY saying it to me. I say it to her whenever she reaches for me, and both times it wasn't long after that when she said it...but she was only 6 months old! Logan was SEVENTEEN MONTHS-TWENTY FIVE DAYS the first time he began referring to me as mama! So, I've been trying to get her to repeat it immediately after me...but she hasn't. Joe overhead me that Sunday and said, "Krissa, say Dadda." She turned to him, smiled, and said, "Dadda." (Logan was 14 months when he began referring to Joe as "Dad.") Ever since then, whenever he asks her to say it, she does (as well as on her own throughout the day). Not fair. :p

On more than one occasion at Sweet Moments, I blogged about her seeming smart. On the same day she started saying "Dadda" (Feb 12th) she was playing with Logan's old jungle toy with balls. I showed her how the ball can go in the hippo's mouth. After that she kept putting it in the hippo's mouth! I thought that was pretty good for a not-even-seven month old. (Had assumed she would just stare at me and then go back to whatever she was doing.)

Last week she even started waving but I can't tell for sure whether she is REALLY waving or if it's just a coincidence, but there have been four times since then when she first sees someone she waves her arm up and down!

For a week in January she was fake coughing which I read Logan did at this age.

Also in January, a week after she turned 6 months old, she could sit up from a laying down position and began pulling herself up! (She was also crawling fast around the house at that point, as many steps as she needed to take to get anywhere.) As of the first weekend in February (6.5 months old), she can also WALK along furniture. Logan wasn't doing that until 8 months.

I raised the side of her crib and put the regular bumper pads in for the first time, but tomorrow I'm going to lower the mattress because now when I go in her room after nap time, she is standing there, grinning, and bouncing up and down, trying to climb out! Logan never climbed out so hopefully she won't, either!

We decided to put the pack n play in storage this past weekend, since she hardly ever uses the play pen...there's too much roaming around to do. :p

After watching my active girl, our pediatrician predicted that she'll be walking between 8 and 9 months old! (I didn't even know babies could walk at 8 months but she said, although it's rare, it does happen.)

PART TWO

Krissa had her well visit last week (Feb 8th) and was 18 lbs, 5 oz and 27.5 inches long, with a head circumference of 17 1/4. It was one week before turning 7 months old, so for a 7 month old that is the 50-75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for head! (At birth she was in the 25-50th percentile for weight and 75-90th percentile for height; at two months was the 90-95th percentile for weight and 50-75th percentile for height; at five months was the 75th percentile for both height and weight.)

It was our first real appointment with Dr. Cooperrider and she was awesome. She sat and talked with us like she had all the time in the world (rather than the guy we went to for Krissa's 2 & 4/5 month check ups, who acted like we were just one of too many people he had to see) and was just so personable...I felt much more relaxed & comfortable because she talked to me like a friend and not an imbecile (like the last guy).

Krissa didn't smile at the doctor or nurses like last time (when she hardly flinched at the shots) -- this time she made it clear she didn't like her ears or lungs or heart being checked, let alone the shots! But, as soon as I nursed her she was fine and was normal that night as well. Now, no shots until 12 months!

She will have her 9 month check up on April 18 -- Logan's birthday/the same day as his 4 year appointment (no shots for him, either).

Speaking of Logan, he can get dressed now by himself (two months before turning four years old)! That really helps our mornings so that I'm only getting one child ready.

Also, during this month of February, he has been getting out of his bed in the mornings (he'd always just call for us like he did back when he was in his crib a year-and-a-half ago). So...I have finally told him that he can get up in the night to go the bathroom! His pull-up has been dry for a couple of months in the mornings, and the plan has always been to wear underwear at night starting on his 4th birthday, so I'll give him two months to practice getting up on his own in the night and then hopefully by April he won't ever wet the bed! (That's why we waited, studies show that often if parents would just wait until the child is 4, they can avoid most - if not all - bed-wetting accidents.) The last pull up he ever wore during any daylight hours was on his 3rd birthday 10 months ago, and he's only had two accidents since then (one of those was the ONLY accident he ever had in public -- at Jaxson's house a few weeks later, and then one at home). I'm also encouraging him to stand up now to pee. 98% of the time he's always sat down, but now that he's taller I'm trying to let him know that since he's a boy he should stand up. :p

He still adores his sister and has been possibly my fav age now that he's closer to 4 than 3! He says about a million cute things a day. Recently, he was eating something I made and said, "Wow, we have the best baker in our house, we're never going to get another baker." Hilarious (as you all know, cooking is not my specialty). Another day I woke up with a huge pimple on my chin and he said, "You're still pretty mom. You're beautiful and we love you." Where does he come up with this stuff? (No, he doesn't hear Joe say those things. :p)

He loves getting my earrings in the morning. It is cute how he actually tries to figure out what matches my clothes!

He makes me laugh with every other sentence. One day he held up two fingers and said, "It's your choice what you want to do today: either go to the store or the North Pole, pick one." We went to the North Pole, of course (j/k).

PART THREE

On January 30th was Bella's 7th birthday and when Logan learned that news, he immediately went to work on throwing her a party. He found the Mickey Mouse table cloth from his party last year, as well as leftover plates, napkins, silverware, cups, party hats...and we even made brownies (although Bella didn't get to enjoy them).

I was so impressed with how motivated Logan was that I told him, "You are a great party planner, I think you should plan my next birthday party."

He stopped what he was doing, gave me a strange look and said, "Mom, you're kidding me, right? I can't bake a cake all by myself!"

This may be TMI but one day he walked out of the bathroom and exclaimed, "I pooped an L!" He's kind of obsessed with the letter "L" since that's what his name starts with so I didn't take him seriously until I actually looked in the toilet (he still needs me to wipe his bottom) and, sure enough, he'd pooped the letter L. :p

One day I "passed gas" on the couch while he and I were watching TV. He was sitting near me and scrunched up his nose, pointed to the guy who had just appeared on the screen and said, "He smells like junk!" He kept sniffing his nose and saying, "He smells really yucky and bad!"

:p

During another time that I was watching TV, 3 very fancy/dressed up women came on the screen. He said, "Those ladies are CU-TE!" I have never heard him say anything like that before!

As you probably recall, I had planned to start him in preschool about this time. Last year when I found out we were moving to West Des Moines, the first thing I did was research preschools for Logan. I mentioned the two that sounded the best from their websites, on my post: Seven Months Pregnant . However, that was back when we thought Joe would be working at the main Wells Fargo building in West Des Moines. Now that we have a house in Waukee, I wanted to choose something in the Waukee-Clive-Urbandale area since Joe's currently working in the opposite direction as those two childcare centers (they are 15 min south of our house; Joe works 15 min north).

According to the internet, there are 8 daycare centers in Waukee. Back in Omaha, they all offered the option to go just 2 full days a week. Here, I called all 8 (Little Wonders, Kid's Company, Westside Kids, First Steps, KinderCare, Appletree, Koalaty Time, and Traditions Childcare Center) and only those last three did!

I posted on my neighborhood's facebook page asking if anyone had any recommendations, and it sounded like Appletree was the most expensive ($145 for two days a week) with unhappy parents who have taken their children out, so I crossed them off my list.

The Y is where it seems most of the kids in my neighborhood go whose moms stay at home. The problem is, it's only two hours a day, either Tues/Thurs or MWF. Considering that from the time Logan was 11 months old I've been spoiled with 8-18 hrs a week (until this past July), that just doesn't seem worth it to me. I think HE would like that better, but I don't see how it'd be enough time for me to do whatever is on my agenda (since at both Gail's house and La Petite I started him at 4 hours, 2 days a week and THAT wasn't sufficient, which is why I increased it).

Also, we're not members right now so we wouldn't get a discount. Joe is dragging his feet at becoming members of the Y because we had a membership for a year back in Papillion (2006-2007) and hardly went at all. But, I don't want it for working out this time, since we have an elliptical now; instead, it's because they have SO many children's programs (it used to be the biggest YMCA in the Midwest.) I had wanted to sign up Logan for swimming lessons last month, but Joe didn't think that was worth it, either, since we'll have our own neighborhood pool this summer and, when it comes to lessons, we were recommended a private instructor (my HS/college friend Shelby's daughters take them from a former swim coach who has a pool in her backyard and does them one-on-one). I think Logan would like that better since he hasn't been in the water a lot and might be overwhelmed taking them with a big class (since he's too old now for Joe or me to go in with him). Needless to say, it doesn't sound like we'll be joining the Y this year.

There are also local churches and the school system that do "the two-hour thing" but I didn't feel it necessary to call to find out whether they do two full days a week. In other words, I only have two options: Koalaty Time is 11 min from our house, but Joe drives by it every day to work (4 min from his office). He said it is a nice building from the outside. (www.Koalatytime.com). At first I was excited to see they offer web cams, but they are $25 per month. :( That is the case with all places around here! Their rates are higher than Omaha's as well, just as all of the daycare centers in the Des Moines area. (Just like housing, as we discovered when looking here compared to Omaha.)

Back in Omaha the rate was $90 for two full days (but we only had to pay $81 due to getting a discount from Joe's job); the other place in Omaha that we had considered was $103 for two days. At Koalaty Time it is $120 once Logan turns 4. (There is a waiting list so he won't be able to go as a 3-year-old.) If we like them (they seem really great from their website and talking to them on the phone, now we just have to meet them in person tomorrow), the plan would be for Logan to go until March 31st of next year. Then, I wouldn't have him go anywhere from April 1st until the end of August 2013 so he'll get a 4.5 month break before he starts kindergarten. (EEK, bring on the Kleenex when he goes to Kindergarten!!!)

We are also getting a tour of Traditions Childcare Center tomorrow as well. (http://www.traditionschildrenscenter.com) They are 8 min from our house (also on Joe's way to work).

UPDATE WRITTEN ON 2/16/12: Traditions was only $80 for two days a week but we were not impressed with the facility. It seemed disorganized and not well-kept, and neither Joe nor I had a vibe to even consider it. Koalaty Time, however, was at the other end of the spectrum! We were greeted by a classy woman behind a receptionist desk, as if we were going to meet with someone at an important company. The building was very nice and fancy and I liked the layout. The teachers are all required to have 4-year-college educations and several of them have been working with the director for 16-18 years! (That doesn't usually happen at daycare centers!) They have a yorkie dog and an aquarium (Traditions had two guinea pigs which Logan liked) and a multi-purpose room for when it's too cold to play outside. In this same room they have dance classes and tae kwon do. They have very structured days as far as actual "classes" each hour - reading, language, numbers, etc. They also learn Spanish and Sign Language. Everything about the place seemed ideal to me except the price...so imagine my elation when the director said she'd only charge me $80 for two days a week since most kids are full-time! The downside is that we won't be able to get in until June (we could start Traditions in April), so that feels like a long time since I've really needed something the past two months already...but I guess it's only 3.5 more months. I also was excited that, although Logan had been emphatic against returning to preschool whenever I've mentioned it these past 7 months, after we went he was totally fine with the idea and keeps asking when he can go there again! So hopefully he'll be that way in June because Joe & I have decided to sign Logan up at Koalaty Time!

The two days a week that Logan goes to daycare, my mom will watch Krissa. One day a week I will drive to Ankeny and drop Krissa off at her house while I go somewhere and work on my novel or run errands or go to an appointment, and the other day of the week she will drive to my house while I do the same (or take a nap, haha). That way those two days I will get a break from both kids, so that I can be Super Mom to them the other days of the week. I'm not sure if they'll let me pick what two days of the week Logan goes (I need to email the director with a few other questions I thought of as well), but hopefully any day but Monday (because that's our playdates with Shelby and Avery).

Every now and then Logan and I work on his workbook that I got him for Valentine's Day last year (this week he completed it) and he does really well so I think he will do well at preschool, too.

PART FOUR

Back to Krissa...on January 17th she played in the snow for the first time! It was our first snowfall that stayed on the ground for more than 24 hours. She seemed pretty neutral about it. Joe, Logan, and I were excited, but she stared at us straight-faced the entire time like, okay guys, whatever, this cold white-stuff is overrated.

January 19th Joe and I went to the dentist here for the first time. We really liked her (and the office, Craig Dental Center, is just down our street) so we'll be back in six months!

On January 21st is when I returned to my novel, as I explained in my post Can't Sleep. I don't plan to ever return to freelance writing. (I wrote articles for different companies from 2008-2010, then took a break while I worked on my autobiography the summer of 2010, and was going to return to my novel again but decided not to because I knew I'd be getting pregnant so I returned to freelancing until Krissa was born the summer of 2011.)

Unfortunately, I've only been able to work on my novel a few times since then. I really need to make myself a schedule for writing in order to do a good job. That is another reason why it's disappointing that Logan can't start preschool until June, because that means the only time I get is after the kids go to bed, and often I am exhausted by then, too. On the bright side, that's how & why I was able to write this blog post (I ended Sweet Moments because my goal was to be done with my novel by the time Krissa turned a year old; however, now that I know Logan won't be in daycare until June, I can't be as strict with my deadline).

That day I also went out to lunch to PF Changs with an elementary/JH/HS friend who lives in Des Moines. Her name is Angie and I hadn't seen her since my baby shower in March 2008. It was great to get caught up. Aside from her, Brad & Shelby, and Christy, I still have several other friends to get together with since moving back here! Next on the list is my college friend Tara who I'm meeting for brunch on Sun, Feb 26!

I'm going to put away Krissa's bouncer this weekend (Feb 19) because she hasn't liked it the past six weeks. :( It concerns me that she's always gotten bored so easily with everything. She isn't even crawling as much lately because she acts like that's boring, she'd rather spend HOURS pulling herself up wherever she can, trying to walk. I hope that at some point she's content with the present and not always wanting to move on to the next thing in life!

(INSERT: I just read the equivalent post with Logan and saw that he was easily bored at this age, too! Granted, he wasn't all of the previous months or the months after this -- she has always been this way -- but I talked about it being a problem with Logan this month, in fact I sat him in front of the TV for two Baby Einstein DVDs. Yikes! At least Krissa hasn't watched TV yet. Most things I'm more slacked about with baby #2; like cleaning toys...yeah, I do it once a month, whereas I did it every other day with Logan's toys and he just stayed in our house and no one else even touched his toys! When we left our house, I didn't allow him to put anything but his sterilized toys in his mouth. Krissa, on the other hand, I can't keep up with. Whether it's in the church cry room, toys that other babies are putting in their mouth -- or objects that aren't even toys that aren't ours and never get washed! But, she's only had that one minor cold back in December, so she must have a good immune system. :p

Anyway, so I'm glad Logan didn't turn into a couch potato since I bought that DVD when he was 4 months old! He didn't want to watch even a second of TV from the age of 8 months until two-and-a-half years old when he had his pneumonia, but ever since then he has watched TV every day so I'm not going to put Krissa in front of the TV because I'm sure she'll notice what Logan's watching at some point, and then there's no turning back!)

My mom and stepdad got her a walker in mid-January that at least she still likes!

PART FIVE

She was super happy and sweet and easy during her sixth month. (Which is different than with Logan -- his month 6 to 7/November was the only month I disliked aside from 3 to 4/August in 2008. For Krissa, it was October-November (month 3 to 4) and December-January (5 to 6). So I have no longer been wishing the days away (but instead savoring my moments with her again), as crawling hasn't been overwhelming yet like it was with Logan. (She tends to only crawl in the rooms I am in, while Logan didn't care if I followed or where I was -- he was going to roam the house.) Her last fussy day was the week she turned 6 months old (until I gave her Tylenol; she's had it two times in her life), I was so sure her first tooth/teeth were going to pop up because Logan got his at 6 months+10 days -- but that is the first thing that she's slower than him on, as nothing has popped through yet (which is fine with me since I'm still nursing)! (She does well chewing on puffs and those chip-looking-things they have for babies -- LOVES THEM/demands more -- but I can't tell whether she is actually swallowing them or not yet.)

Also during her 6th month, sadly, she went back to crying herself to sleep for naps and nighttime, which was sad but there was nothing I could do about it. :( I tried bringing her emergency pacifier back (she still won't take them), nursing (but she still won't ever fall asleep on the breast), music box (she tunes it out now), rocking (she just pushes me away), keeping her up longer (she rubs her eyes, yawns, and whines), etc.

I asked our pediatrician about it and she said that for some babies that really is how they relax themselves to sleep -- they aren't thinking of it in the terms we are. It sounds strange to us that a baby might WANT to cry, but just as they realize it puts them to sleep, they also realize at some point that they don't need to do that anymore. (By the way, I read that Logan DID do this a couple weeks of his life and it was THIS month! Crazy similarity again.)

Krissa also returned to waking up in the night after turning 6 months old. Only, unlike with Logan who really didn't wake up when he cried in the night (I'd nurse him with his eyes closed for a few minutes and then put him back in his crib sound asleep) -- Krissa cried herself to sleep after I nursed her, too! So, unlike with Logan who I never understood "the cry it out method" because that would have made the situation worse (i.e. woken him up), I could tell that getting UP with Krissa was making it worse. (And she was waking up 3-4 times a night, which as you know she didn't even do as a newborn -- she'd spent more months sleeping through the night than not, so it was almost like she was mad that she was waking up because she didn't really need/want to!)

As I've blogged in the past, my parenting style with Krissa has been different than that of Logan because she was born second and I've had to allow her to cry for numerous reasons. This has forced my parenting style with Krissa to be more like those who follow the Babywise book (which, by the way, I finally read after receiving it when Logan was 8 months old but never read with him because I, instead, followed an opposite style book. I only gave Becoming Babywise one-and-a-half stars because they said so many bold-faced lies, but I don't have the energy to write an editorial about it like I would have on my old blog). I preferred more of the attachment style of parenting with Logan and it seemed to have perfect results, as far as I'm concerned, so I was ready to do the same style with Krissa.

But...here comes the shocker for those who have followed me since my other blog: I stopped getting up to nurse Krissa when she cried in the night, after her check-up on Feb 8th. Dr. Cooperrider confirmed that it's okay to do things different with Krissa. She was confident that unless I tried to fight it, Krissa would stop waking up within the week (forever ). Sure enough, she only cried in the middle of the night that Wed and then Fri night, but hasn't woken up since, so hopefully it will be permanent this time now that she's 7 months old (and hopefully she'll stop crying herself to sleep, too, soon).

So, yes, me, who has always been against the CIO method, had Krissa cry it out. I still warn mothers to be careful, though. This would NOT have been healthy for Logan. Everything I said back then on my Memories As A Mom blog still stands. What worked for him was what I did -- which was NOT to have him cry it out, even though that meant not having him sleep consistently through the night until 9 months. As strange as it sounds, Krissa wanted and needed to cry it out! :( I still worry about the effect her crying has on her (since when she chooses to do it, there's nothing I can do to stop her), but so far she has been giddy and happy most all days.

Unfortunately, MY mood, on the other hand, was horrible the end of January -- so I turned to television series', as I wrote in Starting To Crawl was what got me through the month of January, three yrs ago. (By the way, I don't think I ever mentioned that my DVR ended up finding all of the episodes of Up All Night that I had missed during our move -- just like I'd mentioned it had done with Ringer, and so I still watch both of those shows on live TV. My only other live show is American Idol.)

Over the years as I discovered TV shows could completely turn my day around when I went into that depression when Logan was 9 months old, I watched the following shows (all seasons that have come out on DVD or instant Netflix): Medium, Brothers & Sisters, Big Love, Lost, Nip/Tuck, Californication, Mad Men, and 24. (I also watched the first season of Weeds but that was all I could take; thought it was dumb.) So, it was time for a new show on instant Netflix and, thanks to my friend Brooke, I chose Prison Break. In one week I had watched the entire first season and over half of season two. Today is exactly a week later and I am half done with season three (there are only four seasons). Yes, it brought me out of my funk.

Since my first period had come on Dec 30th, I thought my second could come anytime after Jan 26 (28 days). I had all the symptoms -- my face broke out, I had cramps, etc. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED! I finally gave up after 38 days because I realized I felt normal again. I thought I'd skipped my period (which is common while breastfeeding). But I was mad that I went through all of the bad parts about having it! (INSERT: I read my equivalent post from when Logan was this age and the same thing happened with period #2 -- I had all of the signs until day 40 when I finally started!) Well, guess what? It started on Friday, February 10th -- what would have been day 43.

At least I was able to enjoy our first trip back to Omaha since the day we left our keys for the new owners on October 12th. We decided to drive over for the day on Saturday, January 28th. We left at 7 am and arrived at 9 am. We closed our old bank account, then went over to my neighbor Jenn's house from 9:30 to 10. We sat on the couch and talked to her and her husband (Dave), and I gave them a sack to give to their new neighbors of stuff that I hadn't meant to pack/could have left at our old house.

At 10:30 we arrived to our hair salon to get haircuts! (Well, Logan and me.) We were done at 12:45 so we grabbed Little King subs and then arrived at 2 pm to Lisa & Darin's house. Lisa's sister Sara also joined us with her almost 11-month old daughter, Emily, so we all enjoyed catching up (while Lexi and Riley put on a dance show for us and Logan and Krissa played with their toys).

We left at 4 pm and arrived to Matt & Stacy's house at 4:30 where we stayed until 6:30 when we headed back to Iowa. They ordered pizza for us for supper and Logan had a blast playing with Jaxson. It was fun to see Olivia who is already a year-and-a-half, and Krissa enjoyed playing with Stacy (she was a social butterfly on the trip).

We arrived home at 8:30 -- the trip was a definite success, I was proud of the kids for doing so well. There were no stops along the car rides and no whining or crying from either child! So, we're coming back in March for an entire weekend!

The only bad part was that the kids heard us up early that morning (I woke up at 5:30, Joe got up at 6 am, Logan at 6:15 and Krissa at 6:30) -- Krissa's days of sleeping in have been over ever since! BOTH her and Logan have gotten up at 7:30 am every morning since! They also want to go to bed at 8 pm nowadays. She then usually takes a nap from 9:30-11:30 and 3:30-4:30. She nurses 5 times a day and eats 3 times.

PART SIX

February started off with as great of weather as January had (60 degree temps). So the first week we went out every day -- the grocery store, Target, the mall (and ate lunch on our deck), played outside, and went to the library. But, on Feb. 4th it snowed the most it had this entire winter -- we went to bed Fri night with nothing on the ground and woke up to it snowing on Saturday morning and it didn't stop until Saturday evening. They said we got 6-10 inches.

We were going to get family pictures taken that day (which I realized would have been the EXACT same day that we had our pics done with Logan at this stage. I had previously written on Sweet Moments that he was 7 months old, but then realized I was wrong -- the pics were taken on Nov 7th (11 days before turning 7 months old). February 4th was 11 days before Krissa turned 7 months old! But Joe thought he was going to have to work (he hasn't worked a weekend since starting at Wells Fargo, other than those two last October). So, we rescheduled to the 18th, although Joe ended up getting his work done on Friday and not having to go in on Saturday after all.

Logan enjoyed helping Joe shovel and use the snow blower, as well as throwing snowballs and making a snowman. Krissa and I watched, then did Baby Yoga for the first time (something I had done 5-6 times when Logan was a baby, younger though).

I had to stop doing the elliptical not long after I started in early January (I'd blogged about starting to work out again after having Krissa and wanting to make it a daily thing). My milk supply kept drying up! The days when I would work out, my milk would not let down! This made Krissa upset (obviously) and then I noticed on those days I would be super tired (same thing that happened when I was pregnant -- where exercising actually made me lazier and feel worse than if I had not exercised). It became obvious that my body was trying NOT to burn extra calories! After going through this cycle for two weeks and it affecting both Krissa and me negatively (and I actually gained four pounds after being five lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight since the fall), I was like, forget that! I still want to work out (because I want to lose those 4 lbs again), so I'm going to see if DVDs have a better effect, but I'm not going to be able to "get into shape" until after I'm done nursing.

During those couple of weeks, I was seriously ready to quit breastfeeding. I felt burnt out. After it being so easy for six months, I no longer felt anything positive coming from it. My hormones had kicked in again (getting rid of the previous "high" that breastfeeding gave me my first few months with both babies), my metabolism slowed down (I noticed that I could no longer eat anything I wanted/however much I wanted which is how it was the first few months with both babies), I longed to drink a glass of wine or have an alcoholic beverage (although I had alcohol twice while nursing Logan/pumped and dumped, it lowered my milk supply and wasn't worth it, so this time I haven't had any and don't plan to until I'm done nursing), and finally with Krissa being on other food now she is getting nutrition elsewhere.

The only thing that kept me going was knowing that I breastfed Logan for nine months and he'd been hard! In other words, if I went through what I went through with him and made it longer than this, I felt like I should keep going with Krissa. Plus, I remember thinking that buying formula for 3 months didn't seem like it'd be very much with Logan...but it turned out to be A LOT! It's nice not having to spend money on formula. (And she'd have trouble drinking it anyway since she is still learning the sippy cup.) But, even SHE has shown signs that she might wean herself after all like Logan did -- because she gets distracted super easy while nursing now and most of the time just nurses 2 min (one min on each side) and then wants to get down and play. So, my goal is to go one month longer than Logan (10 months) which will be around May 15th.

Feb 5th was Super Bowl Sunday. We'd been invited to one of Joe's friend's parties in Newton, but after getting that snow the day before, we decided we didn't want to drive that far (an hour), especially since Joe's mom isn't there right now (she's taking her annual 2 month vacation down south; meanwhile my mom and stepdad were gone for a week to Santa Barbara and my dad was gone the same week to Palm Springs. Can't wait for our Disney trip that I talked about in Starting To Crawl!)

So Joe just watched it here (I only watched the half time show). We'd gone to church that morning and then went out to Carlos O'Kelly's for the first time since moving back to Iowa. As I've mentioned in the past, we don't go out to eat much these days due to Krissa, but she slept the whole meal -- yeay. She has sat in a highchair 3 times now which is a new milestone. :-) (We usually just go to The Pizza Ranch if we go out to eat since it's a good setting for the kids, although we did eat at a Mexican restaurant we liked called Mi Mexico, although STILL no Mexican restaurants as good as in Omaha.)

On Monday, Feb 6th, Logan, Krissa, and I had our first playdate with Shelby and Avery. It was to Monkey Joe's, a bounce place 15 min from my house. OMG, it was AWESOME! It's a chain place rather than Bounce U in Omaha, so it was huge with quadruple the amount of bounce houses, plus a game area with ski ball and video games, etc, and other stuff for kids of all ages. They even had food and tables and an adult area with TVs and couches. I signed up for coupons and next time I'm going to ask them if there's any sort of membership because I want to go every week!!!!

Logan had SO much fun running around with Avery. We had the place almost to ourselves, there were only two other girls Avery's age there, and they immediately joined them -- before I knew it, they were all playing tag. Logan would disappear and then come back with his face red, huffing and puffing, saying "I can't keep up with those girls!" LOL!

After a couple of hours, the other girls left and then two boys arrived. I happened to look up from where I was sitting, chatting with Shelby the whole time, and I saw Logan run over to one of the boys (approx age 6) and hit him!!! I about fell over. Logan has never even approached another kid before, let alone hit a child! I mean, anyone who has been around him knows what I mean -- he's the least aggressive kid you'll find in a group -- so I thought my eyes must be playing tricks on me -- but then the boy turned around and GLARED at Logan! I mean, if looks could kill...but Logan was already off, running away. I pulled him aside and asked him if he'd really just hit that boy. Logan explained that he was playing tag. :p He'd never played tag before (Avery taught him that day), so I don't think he quite understood, LOL. I told him to make sure that other kids know he's playing tag; I informed him that I don't think that boy knew he was playing, and so he thought Logan was being mean. Logan was crushed, saying he didn't mean to make the boy sad.

Otherwise, I was really happy to see Logan so social. Aside from the three times that Brooke had visited Des Moines with Kaelyn, this was our first playdate in over seven months! :( (After being used to doing them every week in Omaha!) When we left, he said, "I think it'd be best if we got together with Avery again." LOL.

At one point they were hiding in a photo booth together. Krissa was also very interested in the surroundings there. She crawled around on the floor and one time I took my eyes off her and the next thing I knew she had crawled in the photo booth, too!

I liked that it was a safe facility. They put numbered wrist bands on everyone so that parents match their children and aren't allowed to walk through a guarded door without their parent with the matching band. Then, the bands are cut off. This allowed me to relax and talk to Shelby without obsessing where Logan was, because kids can't run out.

My dad stopped by for an hour that evening since he left for Michigan the next day/Tuesday (hadn't seen him since the first week of January).

PART SEVEN

On Wednesday, February 8th we purchased our first security system. Joe's mom paid for the initial fee as a Christmas gift. We didn't realize ADT is SALES, so we didn't particularly care for the guy who came out (i.e. Joe saw their commercial and ValuePak ad that says it's $30 a month...but that's a lie. Then, when he told us the REAL price, we said we were going to check out other companies and get back to him. "Oh, well then let me call my manager and see if he can give you a better price." Seriously? So then the price was brought down, but only if we purchased it that day. At the very end -- the very last line we signed -- was for a three year contract! At no other time were we told it had to be for 3 years! If they weren't the #1 company with hundreds of years behind them, we would not have gone with them just because we felt like we were buying a car which we hate! So hopefully all will go well. It was installed this past Monday the 13th and at least THAT guy was really nice.)

Also last Wed. the 8th I went to the grocery store and Krissa rode in the seat of the cart for the first time! (Logan was spending the night at my parents' house for the first time in a month.)

On Friday the 10th, we met Brooke & Kaelyn at the mall playground and for lunch (making it our fourth playdate with them since our move). It was great to see them and catch up. When I first told Logan that we were seeing them he said, "We're going to the zoo?" Awe! I'm glad he remembers. :-) Since our season pass doesn't expire until March 31st, we plan to go there during our next Omaha visit in March!

Not much to report over the weekend (11th-12th)...Fri eve Joe and I (& Krissa) went out to Macaroni's for our second time since moving here -- as an early Valentine's Day dinner, since it was TEN YEARS AGO that we ate there the night he proposed! (Logan was at my mom & stepdad's again.) On Sat, Logan & I made a Valentine cake and cupcakes that Sandi had given me for a gift (Logan opened his gift from her a couple of days before). Of course I was saddened by the news of Whitney Houston passing away that day.

On Mon the 13th the four of us went back to that Mexican restaurant that we'd liked previously...but guess what? Didn't like Mi Mexico this time! So far El Rodeo is the best one around here, but no others will we prob go back to. For actual Valentine's Day (yesterday/Tuesday the 14th) I gave Logan a Nikelodeon color and sticker book (and some goldfish crackers and candy hearts) and for Joe I had cards made from the kids with special pictures of them (I also gave him some Reses hearts).

Since Krissa turned seven months old today, I will leave you with the links about Logan at this age!

Baby's First Teeth!

Breastfeeding May Never Be Easy

Update

6.5 Month Pictures

Logan Vs Buddy Lee

7 Months Old!