Sunday was my morning to sleep in, and I made the most of it. I'm always the first to hear Avery, but once Ned got up with her, I was out again. I think it helped that he took her for a walk so the house was extra quiet. The next thing I knew, I was hearing The Hot Dog Dance and it was almost 8:30! I usually try to be up by 8, but that was good rest. Avery seemed to go down fairly easy for her morning nap, but after people slamming car doors 100 times at the road she was up fussing. I hope she had been asleep, but who knows. She fussed off and on before getting quiet again. I did the yucky Sunday shopping since I had been gone all day Saturday. After lunch Ned left and Avery was ready for another nap. She didn't talk for too long and stayed in her bed almost 2 hours. I did absolutely nothing productive with my time. We went to Ned's parents for dinner since his brother Rob and Rob's girlfriend Stephanie were in town. Avery enjoyed inspecting all of Mimi and Grandaddy's lights and looking at the fish in the goldfish pond. She also enjoyed a very extended dinner and ended up eating for almost an hour! We decided that since she had eaten so much, we would cut back her bedtime bottle to 4 ounces. I plan to cut this one out slowly so she's not hungry at 4 am. Once she went to bed I did some reading in my 2 new books....What to Expect the Toddler Years and The Happiest Toddler on the Block. Parenting is alot like teaching...nothing you read can actually tell you how to do it. I do enjoy reading parenting books, though, and picked up some good advice from the few I've read. I'd like to go back and read a few more about infants like Babywise just to what it's all about. You know, in all my free time.
Monday was a simple day at home. I had every intention of going to the grocery store for a few things, but I had to wake Avery up at 10:45 from her nap and didn't want to rush to the store then back home in time for lunch. We are s.t.r.u.g.g.l.i.n.g with the morning nap, pacifier and all. I refuse to believe she's giving it up. I put her down around 9:15, things were quiet, then BAM it's a party. Then there's the fussing and she finally gave up around 10. I have to wake her (usually earlier) so that she'll take an afternoon nap at a decent time. If we wait too long for an afternoon nap we might as well forget it.
Call waiting beeped in around lunchtime when I was talking to Mom and I saw it was my school. I knew immediately that wasn't good. My principal told me that I was moving to 3rd grade due to some changes she needed to make. She had mentioned this in the winter but by spring had decided to keep me in 2nd. After a few good cries and a short nap while Avery was alseep I at least felt somewhat calmer. I am thankful to have a job, but I was already dreading going back to school anyway. I am a much better wife, mother, etc. when I'm not working, and I didn't realized how the stress of school affected me until I got out for summer (very certain that lots of working mothers feel the same). I was very determined to make this a better year for the sake of my home, and this is a hurdle. Lack of time, lack of materials and resources for a new grade, testing stress, etc. are now major concerns, but it is what it is. We all enjoyed spaghetti for dinner and then took a little drive before picking up our Schwan's purchases that Ned had left at work.
We had another low-key day on Tuesday. I got out of the house that night to go to a Southern Living at Home party. I am a big fan, have hosted 2 parties, and have a house full of their items. They have now become a new company called Willow House but it seems very similar with many of the same items. I got the rain gauge which I had been promising Ned forever that I would get. I really wanted a tray and thought of a good location for it once I got home. I'm not sure why I'm a sucker for a tray. Ned had a large fire while I was gone (not at our house!) and called his mom to come sit while Avery slept. Avery rarely wakes up but I was nervous when Ned texted and said he wasn't at home. Our plan for when she cries at night is in my head only. We usually don't go in, we usually don't pick her up if we do, and we usually don't stay until she falls asleep. All of this is at my discretion and I either am the one to do it or I give precise instructions. When Avery started waking at night again at 4 months old Ned went in and changed her diaper. This caused her to be so awake that we had to feed her, leading to a month and a half of night wakings and learning to cry it out. The "Avery" manual really needs to be put into print for others.
Wednesday is Ned's half day so he came home and cut the grass. I ran to the grocery store when Avery woke from her afternoon nap to get some things Walmart doesn't carry. Ned went out when I got home, leaving Avery and I for her least pleasant time of the day. Between 4:00/4:30 and dinnertime around 5:30 can be a bit of a challenge. I have read books and blogs where mothers say the same thing, and I remember Kate talking about in on Jon and Kate Plus 8. After dinner I made some yummy zucchini bread that Ned and I sampled several times before going to bed.
Avery went to Lolli's on Thursday after her morning nap. I continued the very unproductive streak that I had been on all week. I knew it was a good possibility that this would be the last free time during the week that I would have, so I made the most of it. Lolli let Avery put her feet in mud puddles for the first time. I went to pick her up and fed her dinner there so that Poppa could see her. We got home just in time to see Ned before he went to drill.
Friday morning I started Avery on Milk of Magnesia again in addition to her prescription. Even though she is only getting 3 oz of milk in her bedtime bottle, her bathroom issues are really bad. In addition, she has recently started using the bathroom when I put her to bed. I don't want to wake her to change it, and luckily because of her issues there isn't much chance of diaper rash. It's just a bad habit that we need to get away from. I mixed the MOM with her prescription since there's no bottle to put it in, and she took it fairly easy. The prescription is basically a (green) simple sugar, so I guess that makes everything taste good. She took a really long afternoon nap, and I laid down too. I don't think I've taken a real nap since she's been born, because I think every noise I hear is her. I was in and out of sleep for awhile though and felt terrible when I woke up. We went our for Mexican for dinner. All the people who work there want to touch Avery's face. Thankfully she does tolerate them doing it and really seems to like them all. Others have gotten too close before and have been met with screams. I made sure I was in bed around 10 because I've been staying up way too late.
Avery slept until 7 Saturday morning. Her snoozing actually caused Ned to oversleep for his hunt club workday. It never fails that these are the mornings that things keep waking the up...Ned's fire pager, the dog snoring, the cat throwing up, and so on. Avery and I had breakfast and then got busy dusting and vacuuming for my Kelly's Kids party. She was ready for a nap at 9:30 and fell asleep really quickly. I straightened up downstairs since I'm hoping Ned will do some cleaning down there in the morning. When Avery woke up we went to Walmart to get our party supplies. When planning parties like this, you really have to consider the cost of food, etc. into your party profit, because party food can get expensive. Avery charmed everyone in Walmart, and I don't think there was a person in there that she didn't speak to. We played for awhile after lunch, then she was ready to nap. I made my cheese ball and brownies for the party. I also worked on my list of items for the party (trying to narrow it down!). A trip to the Franklin-Southampton County Fair was planned after Avery's nap.
I didn't get any pictures at the fair so I decided I would just add to this post. We met Lolli and Poppa there and stopped to chat with friends before we hardly got in the gate. We toured the building while Lolli chatted with her best friend from high school. Once she (finally) finished, we went through the barn because our Jen-Jen was there! Avery didn't seem to know what to think about Jen-Jen being away from her house. Or maybe she didn't know what to think about the smell and heat in the barn. By then it was past Avery's dinnertime so we went and got food. Avery had a plain hamburger, and I learned that pre-pattied meat doesn't make good food for gumming. She also enjoyed some fries, bun, and a yummy banana. After dinner we checked out the petting zoo which only consisted of 2 animals. There were some more exotic animals next door. Avery liked the big white bunny but could not understand why the large bird kept squawking. Ned and I shared some fried Oreos, Lolli and Poppa had funnel cake, and Avery had some puffs. It was a great night to be out, but we were quickly approaching Avery's bedtime so we decided not to push our luck. The fair isn't the same as it was when I was younger, and I hope one day it will make a comeback. I'm always sad when I know Avery won't experience something that I loved in the same way I did.
Here are a few pictures from our week.
Sammy has started guarding Avery's toys. It seemed to have started with squeeky Sophie the Giraffe (a big dud in Avery's eyes) and moved to all of Avery's toys. I think Sammy is ready for us to go back to school, and I'm ready for Sammy to go somewhere.
Felix stole a few minutes on the bed that used to be his. This horrible thing is Dixie's old bed; Felix enjoyed it while we kept it downstairs, but now that Sammy has been banned from the couch it's occupying a large corner of my living room. Sammy did not care to share his bed. Avery looks like, "Nope. I'm not poking the cat."
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