Father's Day, Ikea, and Nannies... a quick update

Well, I only have a quick second for a posting. I still have a lot to do. Derek and I haven't totally unpacked from being out of town all weekend, and we have some new Ikea stuff to put away. I just finished grading, and I wanted to take a second to share some photos from our weekend in ATL.

Derek took this one when she woke up from her nap. We took her pack and play for her to sleep in. It worked out really well. 

Stella and Derek as we were getting packed up. 

In the elevator on the way out. I wanted to get a good "Father's Day" shot of them. I put that onesie on her - it says "I <3 Daddy" - but she wouldn't move her little pig arm. 

I hope Derek had a good Father's Day. I made his favorite dinner - pear and gorgonzola pizza - and I baked a chocolate cake since he LOVES chocolate. We just chilled and enjoyed spending time with Stella while she was in a good mood. We played some music for her to keep her happy:

Stella and Derek "dancing" to Miles Davis. Stella pooped out at this point, but it was cute to see Derek bouncing and swinging around with her :)

Anyway, all is well. I went and cleaned out my desk at SCAD today, and that made me really sad. I think it's always sad when you make a big transition in your life. I still need to pick up my books from TCL, and I caved and emailed Dr. Fletcher (our Dean) to see if she'd let me just teach the two online classes. I'm still waiting to hear back from her.

I interview a nanny tomorrow at 11am, and I'm still working on the backup. I found a great one from Hilton Head who has 10 years of experience. I think she'd be perfect, too. I may interview her on Friday. I think this nanny search will turn out to be good even if I don't teach classes regularly. We could use this person as a sitter for a movie night or something. We'll see what Dr. Fletcher says...

Well, I better run. Lots to do while the pig sleeps.

BLOOMSDAY posting

SAD
Well, I'm sure some of you have read on Facebook that I'm searching for a nanny. What? A Nanny?  I thought you were doing daycare? Well, no. In fact, I'm not returning to work.


I turned in my resignation to SCAD on Wednesday after a lot of thought. Derek and I had been discussing this for nearly a month, but for most of that month, we hadn't decided who was going to quit. It went back and forth, "No, you quit your job!" "You're the one that's breastfeeding. You quit." Well, finally, I caved. I started crying that I wanted to be home with Stella. 


Now, I'm not going to be just a stay at home mom... You know me. I'm too busy for that. I'm already working for Ashford University again in an ENG 122 class. I've been offered an adjunct faculty position at Technical College of the Lowcountry. I'm going to be teaching 2 classes online, and so far, 2 on campus. I'll teach for 3 hours on Monday and 3 hours on Friday. I'm so nervous about just being gone for roughly 6-7 hours from Stella that I want to bail on those two classes. Derek keeps telling me that it'll be fine and that it will be good for me to have a professional self and get to interact with adults in a "real" environment. 


I'm currently searching for an experienced nanny. I was going to do a daycare, just paying whatever the cost. My friend, and Stella's godmother, Emily suggested using Care.com to find a nanny since we have no established network. She's quite experienced in childcare, so I trusted her and went for it. I created the position yesterday, and I've had 7 applicants. I'm interviewing one on Tuesday, and she looks awesome. I'm currently corresponding with another to have a back up. She has a lot more experience and costs a bit more. I'm going to be paying by the hour, so it ends up being a lot cheaper for me. Rather than paying 140/week for daycare, we'll be paying anywhere from 70-90/week. 


I am so sad to leave SCAD. It was a tough decision. I had just been offered a promotion, and I was selected as one of ten internationally as NACADA's Emerging Leaders. I loved my students, and I really loved my coworkers. I know this is for the best, though. I was so busy that Stella would've spent roughly 50 hours/week in daycare. That killed me. This way, she can be in her own home all the time and I get to spend 99.9% of the time with her. 


My classes will start in August and run until December. Then, I get to spend most of December not worrying about teaching and grading while she naps. I can just watch Flight of the Conchords and bake Christmas cookies... ahhh! 


Anyway, I'm going to miss you, SCAD folks. I'm coming in on Monday to clean out my desk, so if you're reading this, stop by. :)


IN THE HEART OF THE HIBERNIAN METROPOLIS
Derek, Stella, and I leave for the big ATL tomorrow (which *cough cough* is my birthday). I'm so stoked to get to visit Ikea. I feel like we make pilgrimages to Ikea. I see it's glorious yellow and blue sign, and it takes my breath away. Haha...maybe that's dramatic, but I do love some Ikea. I'm also looking forward to visiting Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I really wish we'd get something like that here. I just don't understand why we don't have one. I'd shop there every week. Can somebody please open up a natural foods store in the Lowcountry? Somebody... anybody?! 


I'm not sure what else we'll do. I love Piedmont Park, but it may be a bit hot for our piglet. We'll likely just chill and enjoy being away from home for a couple days. The pups aren't coming this time. We usually take them everywhere with us, but since Stella came along, we just don't have the room for them, or the energy. I feel badly about it, and I know we try to pay attention to them. I figure they'll enjoy being together in a nice big run at Bluffton Veterinary and being away from me. I'm usually pissed at them for something - like barking when Stella has finally fallen asleep and I've been trying to get her down for like 45 minutes. 


A DAYFATHER
And on Sunday is Father's Day. It'll be Derek's first Father's Day, so I hope to make it a special one. He already opened his present. I decided to get him an iPad, too. He liked mine so much that I thought he needed one, and besides, he can make apps and test them on it. It's academic!  We'll be in ATL for half of it, so hopefully we can grab some nice lunch or brunch or whatever he wants. He's an amazing dad, so he deserves to have the best Father's Day ever. :)


Well, I better run. I'm out of Aeolus-inspired headings since I'm burned out from dealing with a reflux-y baby all day. Oh, and quick update on that: Stella is just fine. She has reflux and most babies get that. She's now taking Zantac, and we hope to notice a difference in a short time. We've also elevated the head of her bassinet and crib to combat the reflux until it works. Poor girl :( 


Phew... I'm pooped. I hope everyone had a fantastic Bloomsday, and I'll update more on the nanny search. If you know of anyone, please send her my way. My reqs: has experience; non-smoker; comfortable with pets. Obviously, must pass a background check. 


Okay.. that's it! I'm going to bed! 

Now tell me she looks like me...

Stella has had a busy week, meeting a lot of new people and visiting new places. I've been getting a lot of "she looks just like you" comments. Well, I took this picture of her during playtime the other day, and I couldn't help but compare:

Derek in 2007 when he was in the Army... 

Stella, just 2 days ago.

A Random Assortment of Topics

I realize that the title for this blog posting is very unoriginal, but cut me some slack. We had a rough night last night. Stella screamed uncontrollably for about 2 solid hours. Derek and I both said to each other, "I'm so over this." There was nothing wrong with her, other than just some random farting. Either way, we put her down to sleep at 9 (that's her usual bed time) and she slept all night again. I don't know if she really needed to blow off some steam or what. Derek and I are both over the night fussies but we're really digging this all night sleeping stuff. I only woke up at 6 because I was in pain from needing to feed her. I went and pumped (because take it from me, you don't wake that child unless you want to ruin your entire day) and I got 8 oz. I could quench the thirst of a grown man! 


And a quick weigh update: Derek and I weighed Stella on Friday and she was a whopping 12 lbs and 1 oz. Go Stella! :) 


Derek and I decided that since Stella was such an angel during mass last week that we'd take her to mass again this weekend. Note: we did not say that she was an angel during the baptism. She wasn't. She screamed through the entire thing. Well, I had put this ADORABLE pink and orange dress on her that Megan gave us as a shower gift. I was so excited for her to wear it, and she looked so stinking cute in it. Hot pink and orange really go with her skin tone. Well, on our way out the door, she spit up all over herself. And not just a "spit up." I'm talking a full, blow-out quality vomit. Well, we did a fast wardrobe change, and thankfully, she didn't get it all over me. 


We made it to mass with plenty of time - which is so unlike us - and we sat down. I like to sit in the front of the Cathedral so I can see, so that's where we sat. During the first reading, she started fussing. Derek took her outside, and I was left in mass by myself. She lost a shoe in the aisle, and some nice man picked it up and gave it to me. After the profession of faith, I decided Derek and Stella had been gone too long. I went outside to see what was up, and she was just being generally irritable. I took her, and we came back in but sat in the back. Well, she lost it again, and I had to go outside with her. I looked back in through the doors just in time for communion, and I ran up quickly with her. We sat down, and she managed through the last five minutes of mass. I'm telling you - taking a baby to church can be rough. I had always thought, "Why don't they shut that thing up?" Now, I think "Wow, your baby only screamed once?" I think it's important for her to go so she gets accustomed to going, and she needs to understand the importance of it. I know that she's too young for that now, but I think this is more for us to get the hang of dealing with a fussy baby during mass. 


We made it home, and she seemed to be in a good mood. She got a wardrobe change and a feeding, so Derek and I decided to blow up her baby pool - I realize she's a little young but I thought that since she loves her bath so much that she'd like it. Well, no. We sat her in it, and she started screaming. We tossed the whole plan of spending some time in the sun and took her in for a change, feeding, and a nap. Now, we have this hilarious crab baby pool in our backyard. I guess I'll go play in it. I'm still wearing my swim suit. Here's the stock, Target photo of the crab. I haven't had the mental energy to take any of my own photos, and besides, it's not as pristine as this one...

I realize you're probably thinking, "You morons, a baby pool! She's too young!" But I really thought she could do it since she loves her bath. I didn't want to take her to our community pool since it's full of chlorine and deep. I thought a little puddle of water in a baby pool the shape of a crab would be perfect. Mom gets some sun and plays with Stella, and Stella gets to splash and have fun like she does in the tub. Oh well, we'll try again some other time. Maybe she was just in a mood.


On to other things.. We received her baptism certificate in the mail. Evidently, I'm related to our friends, the Mullens, since it listed my name as "Mindy Mullen." I imagine the secretary probably just made a mistake or misread my maiden name, "Madden." Or, better yet, maybe I'm misreading her handwriting. I haven't decided if I'm going to call them about it since I think it's so stinking hilarious. We did order some prints of her baptism and I made a collage of the best pictures. I bought a frame for it yesterday, and I hope to get it up in the nursery soon. It's tricky hanging things in there. We only have time to do that stuff when Stella's sleeping but most days, she naps in there. 


And speaking of her nursery, we tried rearranging the nursery yesterday, and we had a little success. We moved the rocker since it was in a weird spot, and we scooted the crib over some and moved her bookcase. I don't know what to do with it. I'm not entirely sure I like it how it is, but I'll keep working on it. 


Now, the other day I posted on facebook that we were having a hell of time with getting Stella to sleep. I had a lot of suggestions about white noise, and we had tried that in the past. We have a white noise machine, and I had stopped using it because I was under the impression that it was bothering her. She usually would get pissed off if I turned it on. 


I downloaded a white noise cd - not the most exciting thing to listen to - but it seems to have helped. I play it really loudly on my iPad next to her bassinet. That combined with the noisy humidifier seems to knock her out a lot more quickly than just the humidifier and us shushing her.  In other words, thanks for the suggestions. It seems to have helped! 


And lastly, this week is a busy week for Miss Stella. On Wednesday, I'm going to visit my former boss Ellen at Georgia Southern. We're making the trek to Statesboro without Derek, so this will be interesting. I'm excited to see Georgia Southern's campus - I love it there! - oh yeah, and I'm pretty excited to see Ellen ;) 


This week will also be Stella's first Bloomsday so I guess she and I can read Eumaeus together or maybe I'll dress her in all black. Then, my birthday is on Friday, so we're going to spend the weekend in Atlanta. I SO miss living in a city. I realize I was born in the middle of nowhere but I LOVE cities. I much, much prefer to be in a city. I hope that someday we can move to a decent city and Stella won't have to grow up in the country. Regardless, I'm stoked to hit up Ikea and Whole Foods. I just hope Stella enjoys the trip. It's her first long car ride, so I'm a little nervous. We figure we'll just have to take our time and stop as often as it takes. 


Anyway, I better run. It's super sunny outside and Stella's napping. I want to take advantage of this sunshine! 

Stella's Baptism

Today has been such a great day! Wait, scratch that! It's been a great weekend! 


Stella's godparents, Emily and Marcus, arrived Saturday evening. They spent some time hanging out with Stella while I prepared some dinner. Stella was in a good mood, but she was ready for a nap. Emily held her, and she fell asleep in Emily's arms. It was so sweet! After Stella went to sleep for the night, we stayed up for a bit - maybe a little late since we were all pooped - hearing about Emily and Marcus's recent move to Minneapolis. In the morning, we all got up early to get ready for the 8 am mass. 


Of course, I was stressing. Not only did Stella find her gown and bonnet (thank you, Jessica!) terribly uncomfortable, I didn't get much sleep. The little piglet woke up at 4:15 am for her night feeding and change, and we put her in bed with us. We put her down parallel to us, but, well, here's how she ended up:

How can 11.5 lbs of baby take up most of a king size bed? 

Stella decided that she HATED the bonnet, so we just took it along. Chris tried it on, but unfortunately, it didn't fit :( 

Emily and Marcus gave her this beautiful Pearl and Aquamarine bracelet. She wore it with her ensemble:

In typical Ratcliff fashion, we all made it to mass by the skin of our teeth. Amazingly, Stella was an angel. Chris and Kerry sat behind us on the pew since we ran out of room, and Stella was mesmerized by Chris until about the Homily, and then she pooped out on me. She slept for the rest of mass and woke up just before 9 am. 


Well, from that point on she screamed and screamed. Father Mark could barely speak over her, and Derek and I were doing our best to console her. It was often hard to concentrate, and I was a little flustered. 

Here Derek, Stella, and I are, waiting for Father Mark 

With Emily and Marcus 

Getting Started 

I think you can see the embarrassment on my face and the absolute misery on Stella's

Trying desperately to console her

The actual baptism

Chris went to light her candle

But had trouble figuring out how to get up there, so Father Mark had to go help

When it was over, Derek, Stella, and I made a fast break for the car for a diaper change, feeding, and a wardrobe change. 

She was an angel in J. Christopher's

We had a lot of fun, and Chris even broke out the napkin man, haha 

She finally pooped out on Daddy

While at J. Christopher's, she opened a gift from Kerry and Chris:

The lamb is a rattle - so sweet! 

When we came home, Stella got a wardrobe change, feeding, diaper change, and a nap. Meanwhile, we spent some time with Emily and Marcus before taking them to the airport. Minneapolis sounds so awesome that we think we need to move there! We're so jealous, and besides, we think Stella needs to see her godparents more often! :)

And here's a better shot of her candle:

Now, we can burn this candle every year on June 5th to celebrate the anniversary of her baptism :)

Today was such a wonderful blessing, and we're so thankful to get to share it with such wonderful friends, celebrating such a beautiful and perfect daughter! All of our love to Emily and Marcus and Kerry and Chris. Thank you for making our girl's day so special! 

2 month check up!

Wow - our little piglet is already 2 months old! She had her check up (and yucky vaccines) yesterday, and everything is great. Here she is, just before her appointment:

Her stats:


Weight: 11.5 lbs! Dr. DeMauro said, "What was her birth weight?" Derek and I replied together, "6-15." He said, "Well, the milk is agreeing with you!" 
Length: 22 1/4 inches. Dr. DeMauro said she's only in the 50th percentile or so, and he says she will likely be very petite. Derek and I looked at each other after he said that and said, "We didn't think she'd be very big!" and all of us were laughing. Derek is only 5'7" and I'm barely 5'3" - Stella will definitely be very small.
Head Circumference: 41 cm - Yep, she gets it from Daddy!


He said she's very healthy, and he's pleased with her progress. I asked them to check her eye, and Dr. DeMauro said it's very common and that it's not really anything worrisome until about 9-12 months. He said to keep doing warm compresses and massaging it. He advised to stop the antibiotic drops that Dr. Kreh gave us. 


She then got her vaccinations. She handled it very, very well. Obviously, she screamed like crazy, but the rest of the day, she was very sleepy. She kept giving me this sad little look like, "I don't feel well, Momma." It made Derek and me so sad. They told us to rub her thighs to help the pain, and when I tried after her bath, she flinched and acted like, "Get your damned hands off me!" so I stopped.


Dr. DeMauro said she'll likely start sleeping through the night when she's somewhere between 12-14 lbs. Derek and I were very excited to hear that since she's very close to that weight range. 


Before her appointment, we stopped in York Hall to see Daddy's desk. People were stopping to see her, and she got to meet the SCAD Pizza Fairy (Counselor Pat Mooney - one of my favorite SCAD people!) Bernie, who works at our front desk, said that she looks just like me. Now, I've heard that she looks exactly like me, she looks exactly like Derek, and that she's a blend. Derek and I were talking the other day, and he said, "I can see both of us. I think she looks like Stella." I think that's what I'll go with. She is a good blend of us both. I imagine people see me in her more because she's a little girl and wearing tons of pink. 


As far as her developmental progress, she's really amazing. She's SO close to flipping over, and I honestly blame the heavy cloth diapers for not having already done it. She is definitely raising her head up to 90 degrees and getting her chest up during tummy time. She smiles a lot, and she likes to mimic my faces. She can bring her hands together, and she can grasp things. She loves to swing around a wind chime that my coworker Alexis bought for her. I have to watch her really, really carefully with it, though, since she likes to "nom" things. Our favorite saying is, "Nom on Mom!" she spends most of her time nomming my shoulder or any other bare skin I have.  She's still an eating and shitting machine, eating about 10 times a day. She loves to look at her baby books since they're full of bright pictures. Her favorite is this one:

I think it's hilarious that this is her favorite. I imagine its red background and black and white contrast make it easy to see. She always smacks her lips and stares at it, and when I show it to her, she'll usually squeal in delight! 


Her other favorite toy right now is this one:

It plays music. It was a gift from her Aunt Maureen and Uncle Greg in Indiana. She loves it, and she usually hits it and knocks it over for sport. Derek likes to make remixes with it.... 


And speaking of cloth diapers... we tried a Fuzzibunz overnight last night, and when Derek went to do her 2am change, she had peed everywhere. It was all over her and in her bassinet. We had to change her clothes and swaddler, and then we moved her into our bed for the remainder of the night. In fact, she's still in our bed right now. I made a little fortress for her - inspired by Megan and Justin's sleeping compound for Truman (they shared an adorable photo on facebook of it!). 


We're so excited for this weekend. Stella's gown fits perfectly - we did a little fitting on Sunday - and I'm so excited for her to meet Emily and Marcus. Our friends Kerry and Chris will be at her baptism. They've become known as Aunt Kerry and Uncle Chris in our house! 


Anyway, I better run before the little piglet wakes up! I'm so proud of her for being so tough yesterday! 

Duck, I says...

On Thursday, Stella turned 8 weeks old, and she's getting ready for her 2 month appointment with Dr. DeMauro on Wednesday. She's also getting ready for her baptism next weekend. We have a lot coming up! However, we made a huge leap this week: Stella slept in her bassinet! 


Derek and I decided to weigh her last night to see how the little piglet is progressing. She weighed 11 lbs and 5 oz. She's really packing on the pounds. In fact, some of her 0-3 months stuff is getting a bit more snug, and in Huggies diapers, she needs a 2. We bought Pampers today, so we're sticking with a 1. As I've said before, we do disposable at night because we're still getting up about 2-3 times. Plus, it's just easier to pop one of those on than to deal with a wet bag and pre-folds and Snappis. During the day, she wears her cloth diapers, and we're now able to put pre-folds on her. That means we're using the good ol' traditional cloth diapers! I have Gerber and Econobum for these, and I honestly prefer the cheap Gerber ones. They're perfect. The Econobum ones are rather bulky, but I do love the Econobum covers. 


Stella hates the pre-folds. Well, I shouldn't say she hates them. She hates peeing in them. I can see how they'd help a baby potty train quicker because she is PISSED - no pun intended - when she is wet. She flips out, and we can really feel how wet they are. It makes a huge difference. Here she is, kicking it in a pre-fold. I was calling her a diaper hipster:

I do a load of diapers about every other day or every day, depending on how she's pooping. She's a shitting machine. Stella has AT LEAST a shart with every diaper change and she poops a good, whopping poop about 2 times a day. I keep hoping she'll slow down soon since everyone says that breastfed babies poop less often. She also has a knack for peeing during a diaper change. We really hate it when that happens at night. 

As far as how she's progressing, she's doing well. We bought her some more toys - namely rattles and a play gym. The gym is great for tummy time, and she's getting really close to rolling over from front to back. She's SO close, but she seems to get really frustrated. 

She likes to bat the dangling toys. She seems to use her left hand more than her right.  

She can raise her head pretty well, nearly 90 degrees, and she definitely gets her chest off the ground for a few seconds. Here you can see her back in this picture. Derek and I always call her our little Shar-Pei :) 

Maggie likes to preside over playtime and feedings. I was telling Derek earlier that she's my "lactation consultant" since she hangs out with us so much during feedings. She's really become interested in Stella lately. Iggy still could not care less about Stella. 

Here she is in her crib. She sleeps in her crib a lot during the day. We probably won't try sleeping overnight in the crib until she's about 4 months old or so. I'm so proud of her that she slept in her bassinet last night! 

I was trying to peek to catch her being rotten!

Still using these magic things. Swaddling blankets are amazing. She hulks out of them a lot, though. This morning, I walked over to her bassinet and she had one arm swinging around. We think she looks like a loaf in them, haha.

She moves so much! She's such a little wiggle worm. You can see how blurry her hand is in this picture and she just worms around all over. 

She's very expressive. She's also making a lot of vowel sounds. We're always joking around saying, "Ay, ay" to each other since Stella seems to say that a lot. 

If you can't tell, she wears a diaper a lot since we do so many wardrobe changes - she had on 5 different outfits the other day! - and it gets really hot here. I get really cold, so I often turn our air off or way up to around 75 degrees. I think it makes Stella hot (I know it drives Derek crazy) so I let her hang out in a diaper to keep her from getting pissed. Anyway, I'll post more after her appointment on Wednesday and I'll definitely post some pictures from her baptism next Sunday. I'm really excited for Stella to meet her godparents, Emily and Marcus! 

Fun Pictures

I thought I should update on Stella with some fun pictures :) I've been trying to make a better effort of actually "dressing" her up - not just putting her in a sleeper or some goofy outfit that I cook up. I bought her some summer dresses from Carter's, and they seem to be perfect. She often gets uncomfortable or hot in more stuffy things, so these work out well. It's already summer weather here - in the 80s and nearly 90 on a couple days! Anyway, here's our girl. We weighed her the other day, and she was almost 11 lbs. She was 10lbs 14 oz. I imagine if we weighed her today, she'd be right at 11. She's such a chunk! 

She has a knack for getting pissed every time I try to take a picture of her... 

Rotten! 

She has a renewed interest in the swing. I changed the direction on it, and it seems to make her happy again. Thank goodness. That "I hate my swing" phase was hard! I couldn't put her anywhere! 

We got her all dolled up to go visit our friends Kerry and Chris in Savannah. She had never really been out like that, and it was her longest time away from home. She did okay, but definitely got fussy. I felt so bad that I spent most of our time there trying to console her, and Kerry and Chris barely got to hold her! :( 

My favorite :) She makes the funniest faces at me, and I seem to make her laugh and smile a lot. 

Here you can get an idea for how long she is... she's a doozy! I can't believe how big she is. She was so teeny when we brought her home. Now, she sprawls across me when I feed her. I'm always joking that she's my toddler sized infant... haha 

She's always fascinated by Derek. I think his beard and tattoos make him really interesting! 

They like to hang out together :) 

Anyway, we're working on the headbands thing. I'm not pushing hats with her because it's so hot here. She'd probably melt if I put a hat on her right now. She gets hot really easily, and I'm often cold and she'll be warm. I think she gets that from Derek since he's very hot natured. She's still hating her car seat. She screamed pretty much the entire drive to Kerry and Chris's house last night... weew. Not a pleasant car ride. We stopped midway to try and console her. 

Oh, and she officially ruined another onesie yesterday. We didn't get a picture, but man oh man... what a blow out! I'm sure she's going to hate me for sharing all of this someday :) 

Well, there's a quick update on our adorable girl :) I just love her!