Nine months.

Aliah's nine-month-old check-up was yesterday. Here is what happened:

The nurse weighed and measured her, and... I was surprised to find out that she hadn't gained any weight since June! Well, maybe a few ounces, but not 2 or 3 pounds, as I had originally assumed. So, Mike was correct when he referred to Aliah as being 18 pounds - because she still is!

Her official stats are 18 lbs 13 oz, and 28 1/4 inches long.

So, all the nurses made a big deal about how she's dropped on the weight charts (went from 98% to 50%ish), and the doctor joked with me about it.... then quizzed me about Aliah's eating habits and "strongly suggested" that I add more protein to her diet. I had already started feeding her egg yolks last week, and had planned on giving her cheese/yogurt really soon. But seriously, if you have ever seen this child eat, you know that she is definitely not malnourished. Even if you've only seen her in pictures, it is obviously that her cheeks really couldn't get much bigger. But apparently her doctor thinks that she isn't taking in enough calories. How ironic is that?!





Because of this, Mike went out and bought 12 different kinds of jars of baby food. I am not exaggerating! ((Now please don't get me wrong, I have NO PROBLEM with jarred baby food... it is extremely convenient and fairly healthy. However, it is much more expensive than homemade baby food, which is what I've been doing lately, in the interest of saving time and money.)) However, knowing that we need to up the protein content in her foods, he bought all meat-flavored varieties of baby food. (Do you know how nasty they smell? I can't imagine that they taste much better than they smell.)





For those who might not know, I am a vegetarian. I have not eaten any meat since I was about 12 years old. Hannah does eat meat, but only because she chooses it (and no thanks to her mother, because I don't even cook it). Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with anyone who eats meat, I just don't do it myself. Suddenly though, the idea of feeding it to my infant is less-than-appealing. Seeing those jarred meat labels just totally grossed me out.

So, as it stands now, I AM adding dairy and protein to Aliah's diet, but only dairy products, not meat. Not yet. Maybe one of these days when she is home with Daddy, he'll resort to the jarred beef and vegetable dinner.... but I just can't stomach it.

Enough of that. I know my baby is healthy, regardless of what any doctors or nurses say.

In other news, Hannah's best friend and family are sick with the swine flu.
We are staying far, far away from them this week!

Almost Party Time

Aliah just fell asleep in her highchair during lunchtime. She had cereal and applesauce smeared all over her face, yet she slept on. Can you imagine it? I love those kids of baby pictures!

My youngest brother's birthday was yesterday. He just turned nineteen.... oh, that makes me feel so old! He was so little when Mike first met him. He was only 11 years old when we got married!

The big birthday party for my Dad/family reunion is tomorrow.
Relatives are flying into DC & Baltimore tonight. Almost party time!

Unfortuneately, Mike will miss the party. He had to drive home last night, so that he could make it to work today. He's had over 2 weeks off, and although I know he enjoys his time away from work, I think he was gettng restless and bored just sitting around. I think working hard for the next 3 weeks will be good for him. After this roration, we'll get to take another family trip to PA! I can't wait for this college reunion, I just know that camping with all our favorite Cal U friends will be so much fun!

Diaper stories

Two days ago, when I woke up on Monday morning, I heard some muffled noises coming from Aliah's room, so I went to check on her. I found her laying in her crib with her legs sticking straight up in the air (typical), and she was COMPLETELY NAKED! I had changed her in the middle of the night, and not bothered to her pants back on. BAD IDEA! She had somehow managed to get her shirt off too, and she was actually CHEWING ON HER DIAPER! Needless to say, she will not be wearing velcro-close diapers at nighttime anymore!!!

Mike's reaction: "You have got to write that one in her baby book!"

Speaking of nighttime and diapers: it's been one month since Hannah started wearing underwear to bed. She is still having an accident at night about once a week - but I shouldn't complain, because that's a whole lot better than multiple times a night! Whenever Aliah wakes me up in the middle of the night (which is usually once or twice per night), I will make Hannah use the bathroom, but half the time she doesn't even have to pee.
More news on Hannah: She is getting so much closer to reading on her own! She can sound out the letters, but she still sometimes has a difficult time putting them all together in the right way. She does have some words memorized, like "the", "stop", "and", "mom" and "dad".

I am taking bets on how much Aliah will weigh at her nine-month-old check-up next week. Any guesses? I think she will be really close to 21 lbs. Maybe 20 1/2 pounds.

We are visiting my family in Maryland for the next six days.
We arrived yesterday evening. Hannah is really bummed that it is too cold to swim today. She was very much looking forward to swimming in Yoma's pool one more time. This weekend we are having a big party/family reunion for my Dad's 50th birthday. My brother,aunt and uncle are flying in from LA right now, as I write this. It should be interesting!

It is 11:30 pm, and right now my husband is chasing deer through our neighborhood.
He just attempted to hit one with his car (and failed).
He told me that he wishes he owned a gun; if we did, he says we'd be eating venison this week.

I think he is insane.
What's your opinion?

third tooth

Aliah got her third tooth today.... FINALLY!
I think she's been teething since June.

This afternoon, our driveway looked like a used-car junkyard.

Our MOPS meeting tonight went really well. There were five moms who showed up tonight. I am hoping for more moms to come in the future, but right now I am really happy with our little group. I also recently joined a Bible study that meets on Wednesday mornings. Our first real meeting is tomorrow - I'm hoping to learn and grow there as well.

I am afraid that Aliah is coming down with something. She has been vomiting/spitting up all of her milk, and she has had 3 diarrhea-like diapers today (although it might have been because of the avocado that she ate for dinner last night?). No fever right now, but we'll be keeping a close eye on her.

Mike spent 10 or 12 hours trying to fix our vehicles today. It took him quite awhile to figure out exactly how to change the brakes on the minivan. For awhile this afternoon, our driveway looked like a used-car junkyard. But he ultimately did a great job. Then he had to replace the starter and the battery in his old Chevy Lumina (which probably isn't worth more than $300, but he loves that broken old car!). Too bad we had to go into debt in order to make those much-needed repairs. All 3 vehicles need to be inspected really soon. And taxes paid, and registration fees.... oh, how I hate money!

It's only been 4 days since Mike last worked (10 more vacation days to go!), and already he is getting antsy and impatient being at home. Only two more days until we get another paycheck... I think we'll make it. Because ---

GOD is providing for all of our needs!

I hate money.

I have spent an hour online this afternoon, looking for more part-time work.
Money and finances have always been a sore spot for me.
Right now, Mike and I are struggling to pay all of our bills on time. I am trying hard to continue to trust that God will provide for everything we need.... but somehow we come up short every month, and our credit card debt is creeping up instead of going down. It is getting to be really hard to keep on trusting God.
I don't mean to sound ungrateful for all that we have... I'm just concerned. There isn't anything else that we can cut out of our monthly budget, yet our expenses continue to increase.