It's been almost 2 weeks since my last blog entry and there have been several changes and events. The first event was New Year's Eve and really, it was a non-event. As I believe I mentioned before, Meredith was starting to get a cold right around Christmas. Well, she passed that cold onto both Jon and I and all three of us were pretty out of commission on New Year's Eve. Jon had a low-grade fever and nausea, I had a sore throat, stuffy nose and just plain exhaustion and Meredith had her stuffy nose and cough. We ended up watching a movie at home and getting into bed by 10:30pm. It was probably the first New Year's Eve since I was a child that I wasn't up at midnight... oh well, such is the life of new parents! It was a real bummer because we actually had 3 different social events we could've gone to. And I spoke with everyone who had gone to those parties and they all sounded like they would've been fun. Maybe next year!
The rest of that weekend we did very little. It was cold outside and we were all doing our best to rest and recuperate, in hopes that we'd start feeling better very soon. I did do one fun thing that weekend, I went to our annual traditional Bennies holiday party. A good friend of mine, Mindy, has had a group of about 8 to 10 of us college friends over every year to her house for a holiday party. I was still pretty tired and very stuffed up, but I had been looking forward to going out and socializing, as well as seeing all my girlfriends, literally for months - so I wasn't going to miss it. Luckily, Jon had been feeling better, so I took many drugs and had a cup of caffeinated tea and headed on over. It was very nice to see everyone and also to have some adult only socialization. We had great food, great drinks and great conversation. I got home around 11pm and Jon had, once again, successfully put Meredith to bed!
And so far this weekend we have been able to do one fun social activity. Last night, Friday night, we finally saw the house my cousin Jessica and her husband Paul moved into in November. They had a housewarming party and we all went over to celebrate with them. Most of my extended family was also there - aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The house was actually bought and renovated by my aunt and uncle (not Jessica's parents, but our Aunt Kate and Uncle David). Jessica and Paul are currently renting the house, but intend on buying if all the paperwork goes through. It's near the U of M and Como area and it's absolutely beautiful. As usual, seeing someone else's home, makes me dream of my future dream home, ahhh.... someday! It was a lot of fun seeing the family and Meredith got a lot of attention. She actually did very well. Had a bottle there and then was passed around for awhile before getting pretty fussy. Then we just swaddled her and put her on our cousin's bed to sleep until we were ready to leave. This seems to be the trick these days - if she's been fed and changed and is still fussy - we just swaddle her and get her to sleep!
Now, general news. Well, I've been back to work now for three weeks and last week was my first week working 4 days and I have to say - I'm not a fan. I do love my job and I do actually enjoy work. But by the time I leave work, pick up Meredith and get home, it's 4pm. I feel like in my evenings I'm feeding Meredith, putting her down for naps, packing up for work and daycare the next day, finding time to shower and eat supper and maybe take a nap in the early evening and that is pretty much my day. Maybe it's also that I've been extra tired because of my cold and that Jon has started his rotation at Region's hospital and is busier, but I just find it all so depressing. I also think the winter with it's short days and freezing cold temps aren't making things any better either. Also, Meredith's fussiness is still an issue. Don't get me wrong, she has her good days. But sometimes she's just woken from a nap, been changed, just ate and has been burped, but is still fussing. She's also started doing the whole back arching and throwing her body backwards thing. I know things will get better, I'm just already looking forward to March - Meredith will be approaching 6 months old (hopefully grown out of her fussiness), Jon will be back at the U of M (where call is much less busy) and the weather will be improving!
I've also, more or less, given up on breastfeeding. I'm mostly pumping and bottle feeding, even when I'm home. I still breast feed her in the middle of the night and early morning - when we're both tired - but I'm finding unless I take Meredith out of a deep sleep - she starts fussing and refusing to eat within 5 minutes of starting and I end up pumping and feeding her by bottle anyway. I think if I just plan on giving bottles and finding the time to pump, it's just less stressful - though a bit more work. We'll see how long I can keep this up!
But there are also good things going on with Meredith as well. I've recently figured out that she likes tummy time a lot more. I hadn't really been pushing the issue because I relished every moment that she was actually awake and happy and she had really hated tummy time earlier. But I just tried again last week and she has so much more head strength. She can really hold her head up and look around - it's so cute. Also, she has recently started giggling. Usually when she's laying on her changing table I can tickle her tummy and her chest and she smiles and giggles - it just melts my heart. She's also making a lot of noises. Cooing and ooing, it's so cute! And she definitely is getting more interactive. She loves laying under her activity mat and grabbing the hanging toys - it's amazing to watch! So despite some of the issues with feeding and fussiness - she brings us so much joy and happiness! We'll take a little of the bad with all this good. We do love her to pieces!
The last thing I want to mention is that over New Year's weekend we lost a dear loved one to her battle with cancer. My aunt Nita passed away at Southdale Hospital on Saturday. She had been diagnosed with lung cancer in May and ended up passing away due to infection and bleeding related to the tumor in her lungs. We were glad that we had recently been able to spend time with her over the holidays, but very, very sad to see her go so soon. The wake was on Tuesday and the funeral was on Wednesday. I just so happened to have Wednesday off and Jon was also post-call that day, so all 3 of us were able to attend both the wake and the funeral - they were both very beautiful. We will miss her very much!
Meredith is starting to like tummy time (well for short periods of time anyway!) and her head and neck are getting much stronger!
Spending time in her Bumbo
She loves hanging out and playing under her activity mat
Here is a video of Meredith giggling. It happens most often on her changing table when we tickle her!
Here are all us girls for our annual "Bennie" holiday party!
I even made it out for dinner with coworkers one night a few weeks ago!
Here's a video of Meredith during tummy time
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