May

Well, I’ve procrastinated my way through half the month of June before finally writing my review for May! Hopefully, I can remember some of what happened…

Scott finished building his playset for Atom this month with some help from his parents and Kelly and Travis who came to visit us a couple times in May. It looks great and Atom loves playing in it!

I was able to pick a lot of blueberries this month at a new local blueberry farm very close to my parents’ house. I ventured over there several times and I now have many bags of frozen blueberries, enough for pies and pancakes for the rest of the year! Thanks Mama and Papa for inviting me to pick with you and for helping me watch Atom and Trillian so I could do that. I still love picking fruit!

Crazy hours for Scott unfortunately have become more frequent again these days. He has been working on Despicable Me and trying to meet deadlines in the lead up to the grand opening. I hope things slow down again and normalize soon.

Atom has been really into singing this month! I’ve been exposing him to songs from some of the many musical soundtracks I have, like the Sound of Music, Oliver, Mary Poppins, while Scott is thrilled to hear him randomly singing lyrics from bands he loves, like They Might Be Giants. We also have a collection of songs that my Mom wrote and sung for my siblings and me when we were little, some of which I’m now singing to Atom.

Trillian and Mommy

Trillian is changing a lot! She started sitting up right around her five-month birthday (just like Atom!) and she knows how to roll over both ways now also. By the end of the month she has also finally settled into a schedule of 3 naps a day and eating every 4 hours. I struggled with getting on a schedule this month mainly because of breastfeeding, which has been getting more and more frustrating for me. Trillian had become extremely fussy while nursing and would not stay on more than 5 minutes at a  time. I tried lengthening the time between feedings, from 2 to 3 to 4 hours but it didn’t help and I just ended up with a fussier baby. Also, when we would try giving her a bottle instead of nursing, she wouldn’t drink more than a couple oz at a time, which was concerning to me. So, we finally just gradually started shifting her over to more and more formula until she was almost entirely being formula fed by the end of the month. We were able to gradually up the number of oz she drinks at a time too and now she often takes as much as 4-5 oz at once. This switch to formula seems to have been very positive in terms of getting her on a better schedule. Her naps have started to get longer; sometimes as much as 1 ½ -2 hrs! Her night sleeping has started to improve also, but it’s still inconsistent and I never know if we’re going to have a good night or a bad night. She is currently still nursing once in the middle of the night, but I’m trying to stop that soon too. In addition to the formula, I started introducing solid foods around 5 months. She has tried several different fruits, veggies and baby cereals now and she seems much more into pureed food than Atom was at this age! Another change that happened over the course of this month was Trillian’s switch from sucking on pacifiers to sucking on her fingers. This was a result of sleep training I think, but she just started doing it all on her own, and doesn’t seem very interested in the pacifiers any more. I think this has helped a lot with her ability to soothe herself to sleep. She is very good about going right to sleep most of the time when we put her in her crib.

Although I still felt awfully tired this month, I do feel like better sleep is just around the corner. I feel determined this time around to get this sleep under control as soon as possible for my own sanity. One thing that helped me feel more confident in this goal was reading the book “Bringing Up Bébé” this month. I found a lot of the parenting techniques in that book very inspiring and helpful and I’ll definitely try to implement some of them. Thank you again Mama and Papa for getting that book for me!

Scott and Atom measure and cut wood for the playhouse

Finished playhouse! Just needs paint.

Ira and Kelly help paint during a visit this month

Chilling with Grandpa

Atom helps paint the steps

Such a fun place to play!

As Trillian starts to sit up and become more interested in toys, Atom has been great about sharing and playing with her and she loves watching and being around him!

Snuggling with my big brother!

They look really similar in this photo!

Trillian tries some pureed peas and pears

Atom feeds the goats at a visit to the Sanford zoo.

Kiss!

Playing with Daddy!

April

I'm too tired this month to write much... So here are some photos with slightly longer than normal captions:

On April 1st, Scott's parents came to visit and spent a long time outside in the hot sun helping us clean off our very overgrown and dirty patio.

After they left, the patio was clean, but still very uneven, so I felt inspired to go ahead and take up most of the pavers and redo them to make the whole thing even and also extend it touch to edge of the house so there wouldn't be a weedy overgrown area there. This is a photo of it in progress. It is complete now, but I haven't taken a photo yet. 

Early this month, I took Atom and Trillian to see their pediatric hematologist for a yearly checkup. He said they both looked great! Trillian didn't need any bloodwork done since she had it taken pretty recently, but Atom had to have some blood drawn. This was the first time he's been old enough to understand what was going to happen, and he did great! He stayed very still and didn't even cry. Afterwards we went to the downstairs kids area of Arnold Palmer hospital and he had a lollipop and looked at all the Disney characters.

My new stroller! I've had fun taking walks with them both around the neighborhood and on the bike trail to the playground. I've also started taking it with me when I go to playdates and it's very handy for that. They both fell asleep during this walk!

Trillian in the red swing. She looks so big here! She has begun reaching and grabbing at everything these days and it's no longer safe to try to drink a cup of coffee while holding her...

Atom in the blue swing. Scott has been steadily adding on to this swing set. It is now much more than just a swing set! More pictures to come next month.

Cuddles! Atom is getting more and more interested in Trillian as she gets older and he's still very sweet to her. He tells me to "make her feel better" when she cries and he brings her toys and her pacifier sometimes.

Now I have two guys to mow the lawn for me!

This is (I think) a Cardamon ginger plant we have in the front of the house, which flowered for the first time this month!

The Winter Garden splash pad is open again! Trillian tests the water.

There has been a lot going on in downtown Winter Garden this month. It seems like every weekend there's another festival going on, as well as the very busy farmer's market we go to on Saturdays. I forget which one of those festivals this was taken at, but they had a bird of prey exhibit that Atom enjoyed seeing.

This was earlier in the month before we set up Trillian's crib. Atom and Trillian, both napping in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Sometime mid-month we set up the crib for Trillian in what used to be our office. I've been slowly working on training her to sleep there instead of next to me or on me. I also started supplementing a little bit with formula this month both in hopes of getting her to sleep a little better and because she has still been hungry after nursing sometimes. Sleep still isn't very good though and most of the time I'm still only getting 2-3 hours at a time (and that's on a good night!), but hopefully things will start to get better soon.

In other garden related news, I got my best miracle fruit harvest ever this month! Unfortunately I don't really have the time right now to figure out how to sell them, as I'd like to, so they are now all in the freezer. Maybe I can have a miracle fruit tasting party now!

I didn't take the time to count them, but there were a LOT!

March

Some things that happened this month in no particular order:

Jenny, Brett, Ella, and Maya flew down for a visit for the first week of March. We had a great time visiting with them and took a lot of nice pictures!

We had a couple more nice visits with Greg, Tina, and Gwyn.

Scott finally got a new smartphone to replace his old blackberry. He’s very happy with it!

Scott built a swingset in our backyard from scratch! Atom loves it. He’s now working on adding a platform and a slide to it.

I decided to find a new primary care doctor in Clermont so it would be easier for my parents to watch the kids if I ever need to go to the doctor. I had one appointment there already and I like it so far.

Scott has been very busy working on the Despicable Me ride for Universal and he’s working some crazy and erratic hours again.

Trillian laughed for the first (and so far only) time this month. She has also started reaching for objects.

Atom mastered basic potty training this month! He has overcome his fear of pooping in the potty (lots of treats helped) and now he doesn’t wear diapers at all during the day. I’ve actually started taken him out without diapers too and he tells me when he has to go. We’re so proud of him! We tried not having a diaper on him at night also, but after a couple accidents we decided to wait a little longer before we work on that part.

I broke down and bought a pretty expensive double stroller this month. I’ve wanted one for a while now, but I had a very hard time rationalizing that kind of purchase. Here's how I did it. First I sold two other strollers of mine on craiglist and made about $100, then I found a way to get the one I wanted (the City Mini Double GT) for 10% off, and finally for good measure I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has a $500 cash back promotion right now for new members. Thank you excellent credit! So, now I can take walks again! Which brings me to my next point:

Trillian has been pretty difficult this month. It seemed to get worse as the month progressed. First of all, she hates the car seat. It doesn’t seem to matter if she’s sleepy or awake or even already asleep. When I put her in there and start driving, she wakes up and starts crying. This has really made it hard for me to want to go anywhere. Her naps are also terrible. She doesn’t want to fall asleep unless I’m holding her or wearing her in a carrier. Last month she would fall asleep when laid down on her stomach, or snuggled next to me on her side, but now she’s having none of that and will just start crying if I lie her down, even if I’m lying right beside her trying to soothe her. This has gotten more and more frustrating, to the point where I’m having feelings of intense frustration culminating in bouts of screaming into pillows, which is a new and troubling experience for me. The first few times I used the new stroller, I was elated because she was happy and even fell asleep in it, but then the last couple of times I’ve used it she’s started crying and I’ve ended up carrying her. I can only hope that this needing to be held phase changes quickly as most of these things do. It’s really stressful and rough on me right now.

Family picture

Atom playing on the trampoline

Atom drawing with his friend Gwyn

Atom still likes cuddling with Trillian

Scott works on the building the next part of the playground where the slide will go. I'm always impressed by how he can fix or build anything!

Trillian enjoys her swing

Atom enjoys his swing and his ball too!

The things they put in kids' books these days...

Being held again of course...



Checking out Daddy's new phone

Playdates and Conversations about Religion

I had a playdate at my house today. I posted on meetup as well as facebook but only one other mom showed up this time. We had a nice time. She has a five year old and a 7 month old. I had met her previously at other meetups but this was the first time we’d really had time to talk one on one. We talked mostly about the usual child-related topics that come up when you have kids, but inevitably IT came up. (I can’t even remember how exactly, I think we were talking about what we were doing for Easter.) 

“How about you? Are you religious? Do you go to church?”

I was actually pretty impressed that she asked me IF I went to church instead of asking “which church do you go to?” which is usually how it’s phrased.

“No,” I said. “We’re not religious at all and we don’t go to church.” 

This turned out to be one of the more positive times this question has come up. She went on to tell me how religion is a topic she feels very confused and conflicted about and that she doesn’t feel like she knows enough about it. She was raised Catholic and was trying to decide if she wanted to put her kids in religious programs similar to what she experienced as a child or not.

“I feel like they need it for moral instruction.” She said. “I got that as a child and if I hadn’t, maybe I wouldn’t be as moral.”

“No” I replied, "You don’t need religious instruction to be moral. You can definitely teach them that on your own."

This is so cliché really. It’s one of the most ubiquitous assumptions, that religion is necessary for morality, and if they just stopped to think about it for 2 seconds they’d realize it’s nonsense. In fact, immediately after I said that to her, she began to backtrack on that assumption, (probably realizing the implicit offensiveness of it.) “I didn’t mean that you can’t be moral without religion of course, you understand...”

As I said, this was actually a pretty positive exchange. I told her how I do online debates and stuff and how this is a subject I actually really like talking about. I tried to make it clear that I wasn’t going to judge her or make religion a big issue though. I specifically refrained from using the “A” word during this whole thing, referring to myself as “non-religious” instead because I thought it would be less intimidating then “atheist”. She seemed genuinely interested in my perspective and not particularly threatened by what I said.

I mainly bring this whole thing up to illustrate the point that I DO NOT go around seeking discussion of these kinds of topics (at least not in this context). Religion is ubiquitous in this area and other people invariably bring it up. And, if it’s not that, then it’s something else like anti-vaccine, alt medicine, pseudoscientific nonsense that gets brought up instead. There is no avoiding it. So, I guess I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing. Not bringing controversial stuff up, but not hiding my opinions either when stuff does come up.  And if that results in me being labeled an “offensive, intolerant, argumentative, atheist/skeptic” again, then so be it.

February

February was a busy month filled with a lot of activities. We went to Sea World with Greg, Tina and Gwyn on the 4^th and then to we went to Disney World with them also a week later! Atom and Trillian did pretty well on those outings. Atom is just starting to appreciate some of the characters and activities in theme parks and Trillian was pretty happy as long as she was snug in the sleepy wrap that I take with me everywhere these days.

Greg, Gwyn, Scott, and Atom try to figure out where to go next in Sea World

Meeting Micky Mouse. Atom was excited about it in theory...

At the very busy Magic Kingdom

Atom reluctantly shares his snacks with Gwyn

They look like twins!

One of the unfortunate trends I’ve noticed this month however, is that being in the car does not soothe Trillian. If she’s not almost asleep when we start driving, then she just cries the whole time. This has started to make traveling with her very unpleasant for me and I kind of dread going anywhere right now. In addition, I’m still not having much luck getting Trillian to sleep anywhere but on me. She still spends most of the night snuggled in my arms and the same goes for naps usually. I have found that she does sleep much better on her stomach, but I’m too nervous to try that at night. I have been able to put her down that way for naps occasionally though, which has been nice. There still isn’t much of a nap pattern yet.

A rare nap in the bouncy chair

Atom is still very sweet and cuddly with Trillian most of the time.

Hugs!

Atom teaches Trillian his thumb sucking skills!

Trillian also had another transfusion this month on the 6^th, which we think may be her last one. Her labs have looked good ever since then, enough so that her hematologist said we could wait a few weeks in between labs now, instead of doing it every week. Fewer doctor’s visits makes me very happy! I’ve really had enough of dealing with doctors and insurance and medical bills over these last several months.

We had a great time visiting with Scott’s family this month. Matt, Mara and Vincent flew in from San Diego on the 16^th and stayed overnight at our house that evening. In preparation for that, I managed to clean out our office/guest room (which had become a catchall room) so they would have an uncluttered place to sleep and it looks great now! Having people over is always nice for it’s ability to motivate me to clean stuff up! Scott’s parents and Kelly and Travis all came over to our house on the 17^th and we had a nice day hanging out with them. Then on the 18^th we went to Gainesville for a party at Scott’s parent’s house. Atom had a blast playing with everyone.

Family brunch at our house

Kelly with Trillian (photo taken by Atom)

Atom with his Uncle Travis

Trillian naps next to Daddy

Setting up balloons for the party in Gainesville

Towards the end of the month everyone but me got sick. We might have caught it from Matt, Mara, and Vincent since they were fighting colds while they were here. It wasn’t bad, Atom just had a runny nose and a cough for a little while and Scott was similarly congested. Trillian had the same symptoms, but for her it was lasted a lot longer. As I’m writing this it’s about 10 days into March and she’s still somewhat sniffley, especially after sleeping. Hopefully it will go away altogether soon.