Little Whitney?

NyCee seems to enjoy taking her cold medication a little too much. When she sees me coming, she begins smiling, laughing, and rolling around the bed. As I begin preparing the medication for her to ingest, she puckers up and then gets mad when it is all gone. What is that about?

My child is strung out on grape Children's Tylenol. What's next? The Dora the Explorer Vitamins!

Like Father, Like Daughter

I guess NyCee is preparing to take reign when her father relinquishes his throne.

Will I ever be able to get rid of that chair? Although I must admit it is comfortable. I have been caught snoozing in it a couple of times.

Party over here

NyCee's normal bed time is between 11:30pm and 12:00am. I can hear all the mothers out there yelling, "What? Are you crazy? You let her stay up that late!" There is a reason for this decision. If I put her to sleep at 8:00 or 8:30pm, she will wake up about 3:30am. The later she stays up, the greater the probability that she will make it through the night.

Sunday night I spent quite a while on the phone with a friend. NyCee played quietly either on the floor or in her exersaucer. Then she began to screech and cry out for attention. My friend realized that it was about 10:30 p.m. and asked if she was still up. I told her yes and explained my reasons for letting her stay up. Well NyCee began to rub her eyes and scratch her ears letting me know that she was ready to go to sleepy town. As my conversation was winding down, NyCee feel asleep. I disconnected the call and arose from the couch to carry her upstairs. The next thing I hear is, "Hi daddy's baby." I looked at her and she is wide awake. I thought, no big deal she will go back to sleep once we get upstairs.

At 2:30am she was still wide awake rolling around on my bed laughing and playing. Several times, I tried to put her back to sleep by attempting to fake her out. I would lay down next to her and close my eyes pretending to be asleep. I would open my eyes to find my child staring at me and then laughing. Finally, I turned off the TV and the lights and she went to sleep. In my bed.

Last night, she slept all night in her bed. Praises to the Most High King! Yippee! I of course, woke up a couple of times to check on her. But there she was sound asleep IN HER BED! I actually had to wake her up this morning for daycare. Progress. We are making progress. I relish the small successes as they bring great joy to my soul!

Moral Dilemma

Every Saturday night, I set the alarm for 6:30 am with the intent of attending Sunday morning church services. Yet, when the alarm sounds, I turn it off and go back to sleep. I justify this by saying to myself, “Self.” Myself answers, “Yes.” I do attend services on Wednesday night. Wednesday night service is just like Sunday morning service. It has corporate prayer, praise and worship, ministry of the word, offering, etc. I enjoy Wednesday night service because pastor is not so rushed. On Sundays, he preaches three (3) services. So the 8:00am service must stay on time in order to keep him on time for the rest of the day.

My struggle lies in the fact that I beat myself up every Sunday about this. Is my justification of going on Wednesday okay? I think not because otherwise it would not be a struggle. Basically, I find it really hard to get up and function at 6:30am because I don’t work anymore. I think I just solved my dilemma: Get up and go to church on Sunday morning.

7 months old today

My little girl is 7 months old today and is so alert, smart, and funny. She laughs when I smell her bottom to see if she made poopie. She enjoys peek-a-boo and singing along with me to made up songs. She knows the difference between her toys and the remote control or my cell phone. ( I try to psych her out--no deal). She screeches when she wants to leave her play pen or exersaucer. She refuses to sleep in her own bed. Everytime I lay her down, the internal radar wakes her up and she begins crying. She throws her clothes around the room when they have just been washed, dried and placed on the bed for folding. She splashes water all over my bathroom during bath time. And the list continues. But through it all, I wouldn't trade her for all the gold in the world. (Don't let that cute innocent face fool you).

Well, maybe I would consider it for ALL the gold in the world. Okay, just joking! She is truly priceless.

Why?

Why can't she do this

in here?

I know that I am partially to blame as I just put her in the bed with me if she wakes up in the middle of the night, but she goes right back to sleep. Ever since her little cold, she has not been sleeping through the night. I don't know why. I wouldn't mind her sleeping in my bed if she did not spead out like an eagle as if she owned the place. It is a king size bed. One would think that all three of us could fit. Think again!

And today she cursed

As apart of my Christian development and walk, I have decided that I will not use swear words. (I really had a potty mouth. Especially after the treatment received by my former employer.) But today, I let the customer service representative at Directv get the best of me.

I called last Friday to cancel a portion of our service. I do not watch the movie channels, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc. so I felt that it was a waste of $33.00 a month. The representative stated that because I was a seasoned customer I was eligible to receive a DVR for free. I agreed and scheduled the installation date for today between the hours of 8:00a.m. and 12:00p.m. The technicians arrived around 10:30a.m. and completed the work. Unlike cable, Directv has to be activated with a code by the techs. When the technician called in to the service center, the rep wanted to speak with me. I get on the phone and the rep says, "Ms. Thompson, I am sorry but I can not activate the service because your account is past due." I reply, "Excuse me? I paid the bill on line and have the confirmation number as proof of payment."

After an hour on the phone, the customer resolution specialist told me that she could not activate the service and that if I could not afford to make the payment, then the service would be cancelled. Now I am 48 HOT! I just told Ruby, the representative, that I made the payment and I feel that because I am an established customer, my record should speak for itself. She just kept saying, "I'm sorry....Unfortunately." I finally told her, "Do not say sorry to me anymore as it was annoying me." I told Ruby that when the order was placed for the upgrade, the agent should have disclosed then that a payment to the balance must post prior to installation of a new service. I would have scheduled the installation for later in the week. Ruby could not seem to get that through her head. I finally told her that if this problem was not rectified by tomorrow at 12:19p.m. which was exactly 24 hours from the time of our conversation, I would cancel my service and the tech's could come and pick up all this S**t! Ruby told me that I can not cancel my service because of my commitment to the company. "What about Directv's commitment to me the customer?"

Well, now the only problem is that cable is not available in my area. So I have no choice but to stay with them until cable becomes available. I am going to make them compensate me for my wasted time. The tech's had to take back the box and now I have to reschedule. I know that I am a stay-at-home mom but I have to study during the day. Thus is why NyCee goes to daycare. A complete waste of 6 hours of my day! Darn Directv! Darn no cable available! Darn the fact that I must continuously give my money to a company that treats me so poorly! Does anyone have a pair of rabbit ears?

So Disappointed

I am so disappointed with Flavor Flav. Why? Because he told New York that once again her time was up. He based this decision on the fact that she was "dramatical." Did you see season 1? She is exactly the same person. I feel as though he just ripped off the band-aid and poured alcohol in the wound.

Why did he give her a clock and ask her back in to the competition? It was probably for the ratings. One piece of advice to New York: Screw me once shame on you. Screw me twice shame on me. Let him go New York. Let Flav go!

Simple Things..Will I ever get them?

In a past blog, I explained that I did not know the purpose of the little red stick on the side of the mailbox. These next two stories will serve as evidence that some people have trouble grasping simplicity.

1. I sat down to pay our bills and there are some that I pay on-line and others I mail checks. Our water bill is a payment that has to receive a check. So for the past 9 months, I have been writing the check, placing it with the bill in the envelope, placing a stamp on the envelope, and mailing it.

One day, I had to go to the bank which is approximately two minutes from our house. As I approached the bank, I noticed a building a little offset from the road titled, "Henry County Water and Sewerage Authority." Why is that important? Because it dawned on me that I had been mailing the payment around the corner. I'm telling you the truth. I crack myself up sometimes. I have wasted 9 stamps mailing a payment around the corner. Well, if you think that is funny, just wait until you read the next story.

2. NyCee battled her first real cold a few days ago. The infant Tylenol was not dealing with her symptoms so I bought the Children's version as it addresses each symptom. The problem: children's Tylenol comes with a dispensing cup.

At her age, she uses a syringe to receive the medication. The instruction stated that for her weight she should receive 1.25 mL per dose. So I called my mother, the math wizard, to get help with converting 1.25 mL to either 0.4mL or 0.8mL. My mother asked me a couple of times for the measurements and then gently explained that I would simply add .4 and .8 to get 1.20mL. Because they are the same unit of measure, no conversion is necessary. Or, "You could just pour the medicine in the cup, suck it up in the syringe, and administer it that way" she says gently.

I paused and broke into hysterical laughter as that never dawned on me. Simplicity--how does it allude me?

A Little Ray of Sunshine

I received word from my family in Michigan that it is snowing there today. My cousin in Minnesota stated that the weather person is predicting snow there this week also. I decided to send them a beautiful blue sky to lift their moods....

and a little ray of sunshine to warm their hearts.

Hope this helps!

My first restless night

My cousin Cari is a wife, mother of three, marathon runner, and graduate student. Yep, you guessed it, she is a busy woman. She often tells stories of how her little ones wake up in the middle of the night Max (2) demanding milk and Ella (10 months) well just demanding something. But they are so cute that I just imagine their little eyes looking up at Cari at 3:30a.m. saying, "But mommy I really needed you."

I would read her stories and be sympathetic to her plight but never really understood it as NyCee has slept through the night since coming home from the hospital. Well, that came to a screeching halt last night. NyCee suffered her first REAL cold last night. Sneezing, coughing, cold in the eyes so bad that they were almost sealed shut, chest congestion, you name it. But she was a little trooper and not too fussy.

I went to Target and bought cold medicine for her. I gave it to her about 9:00p.m. thinking that it wouldn't kick in until about 10:00p.m. WRONG! She fell asleep 15 minutes later. She did not have her cereal or bottle.

12:30a.m. she began crying so I went to her room and brought her to bed with me.
2:30 a.m she woke herself up tossing and turning.
4:30 a.m. she woke up sneezing and coughing. I gave her another dose of medicine as the 6 hour mark had passed.
Finally she went back to sleep around 5:30a.m. Keep in mind, I have to wake her up at 8:30a.m. to take her to the daycare.

Cari, I feel your pain. Now I completely understand how tired you are the next day.

Is this what most new mothers go through? Thank God on the throne that He saw fit to give me a wonderful child that did not torture me in such a way. Praise be unto Jesus! Praise be unto Jesus!

A Baby Knows

I recently told you about NyCee's food introduction process. She did extremely well with all the foods that I purchased except one--Green Peas. I really didn't think that a baby would have food likes and dislikes. I know that sounds weird but as I think about it--that makes sense. You and I do not like certain foods because of the taste. A baby is the same way.

At first, I thought that she wasn't hungry because she would shut her lips tight when I tried to feed her. (I should have taken a picture because it is just too cute). But realizing how late in the evening it was, I knew that she had to be hungry. So I made her a bowl of cereal and she ate it all. Then she had her prunes as a snack and got mad when I stopped feeding her. (I only give her 1/2 the jar at a feeding).

The day before my husband told me that she didn't like the peas. But I can not take his word at face value when it comes to her eating vegetables because it is like pulling teeth to get him to eat his vegetables. So I have concluded that I will not force her to eat the peas. The only problem though, is her diet needs to consists of green vegetables. I'll try green beans. Maybe she will take to those.

I'll let you know.

And now I know

Since its purchase, I have been trying to figure out why I spent so much money on a bassinet that became a toy chest instead of a place for slumber. I knew that it had to have a real purpose and it was up to me to discover the potential of this treasure.

And now I know.

Need I say more?

Taste Test

NyCee is in the stage of food introduction. I bought several varieties of vegetables and fruits for her to try and to ensure that she does not have food allergies. I give her the same food for 4 days in a row and then we move on to another kind. For example, Monday-Thursday she will have squash. Friday-Monday she will have peas, so on and so forth.

I also decided to try oatmeal cereal. She has been getting rice cereal since she was about 3 months old. Last night, I mixed the cereal with the formula in preparation to feed her dinner. At the same time, I was watching Project Runway 3 so Lewis said, "I'll feed her." I placed the mixed cereal and bottle of remaining formula next to him. NyCee was in her chair eating and I plopped down on the loveseat and continued watching my program. Then I heard, "UGH! That is nasty!" So, I turned to see my husband with baby oatmeal cereal on his lips and a frowned up face. I broke out in laughter and asked, "Did you taste that?" He replied, "Yeah, it tastes like crap!" I told him that he can not say things like that because NyCee needs to eat her food and not be turned off by his facial expressions.

So he tried to grin and bare it while telling her that it was good. You can only imagine what his face looked like.

I guess NyCee is not the only one in the house going through the food introduction process.

Holding her own

Last night, I caught NyCee holding her own bottle. About three weeks ago, she started sitting up by herself.

Now that she has mastered these two skills, if I can get her to give herself a bath, iron her clothes, wash, dry and fold her own laundry, clean the bottles, make her own food, feed herself, and clean up afterward...I will be on a roll!

One step at a time. One step at a time.

Thar' she blows

In my opinion, NyCee has an excessive amount of toys for a 6 month old. Lately, I have focused on buying educational and developmental toys. I not only want it to entertain her but to teach a concept as well.

One would think that by being surrounded with all of these toys, she would take advantage of this. By matching the wooden pegs to the appropriate shape or,

reading one of the books from her little library collection, or

using the building blocks that contain letters, numbers and a little mirror so she can recongize her features.
But why ever would she want to use these things to entertain herself when she can blow spit bubbles?

She actually becomes more entertained has she gains force to cause her saliva to projectile across the room.

Harvard Medical School here she comes.