A few of their favorite things

Last night I was playing with Button in her room in an attempt to give Bub some peace during his bath time and I started thinking about the toys she plays with consistently. And then about the toys he plays with regularly too. Honestly, his favorite toys are moving to mostly electronic. He loves his Nintendo 3DS and to play on our tablets and to play games on the Wii. Toy-wise though I think his favorite toys are his Legos and the Mega Bloks that he got as a toddler. He will still build things out of those and I don't mind them being where Button can reach them. Unlike his Legos which are smaller and a bit of a choking hazard. (His aunt and uncle actually gave him a Mega Bloks Power Ranger Super Samurai for Christmas I haven't let him open still. 284 tiny little deathtraps, I mean, pieces. But he is desperate to put it together. But 284 tiny little pieces.) They both like to build things and destroy them so the bigger Mega Bloks are a good go-to toy for them to play with together. His other favorite things are his VTech Switch and Go Dinos. He has about 4 of them and he plays with them quite often. His favorite is the spinosaurus and he'll play with those for a while.

Her favorite toys are anything that belongs to him and I would say her Little People Princess Castle. My sister got it for her for her 1st birthday and I didn't know how she would do with it. But surprisingly she plays with it a lot. Big brother will even play with it with her. The nice thing (I guess?) is that you can buy the princesses separately and they make good little presents for Easter or Christmas stockings. Right now she has Snow White and Cinderella who come with the castle and Tiana and Rapunzel. She likes to make the princesses do their sounds and open up the castle doors. She also likes her Walk 'n Roll motorcycle and her stroller style walker. She doesn't play with them as much now that she can walk on her own but she still likes to ride on the motorcycle and push around the stroller. She also loves the LeapFrog Peek-a-Shoe Talking Octopus. But I keep losing the balls that go with it so right now there are only three. Toys with multiple pieces don't do well in my house but I try. She also has a picnic basket and tea pot that she loves. They make sounds and play songs. Anything that plays music is a hit with her.

It's funny. They have so many toys and really only play with a few. But those few favorites rotate over time so I never know what the next new favorite is going to be.

Almost time for daycare

Daycare has always been one of my biggest stressors. Finding it when Bub was 10 months old, moving him at 17 months to a different one when I changed jobs and then the issues that arose before we pulled him out when he was 5. Luckily we worked it out til he started school. But now it's almost Button's turn and it is starting to stress me out again. Because of our bad experience with Bub's last one I just don't want to send her to daycare. But BT will hopefully be changing jobs soon to a daytime job and she is going to have to go somewhere. I wish I knew someone who did in-home daycare who I could trust. But I trust a random stranger alone with my daughter less than I trust a certified daycare. So that looks to be our best option right now.

My problem is finding a daycare with aftercare and a summer program. Right now my mom takes care of Bub afterschool and it is working out great. I'm concerned that one day it will be too much for her and she will stop and I will be stuck. So I want to find a daycare with an afterschool program that will pick him up from school. I'd like for them to be in the same place when it is time to pick them up instead of trying to get them from different locations. And then he will need someplace to go for the summer and I'd ideally like for it to be a summer camp with field trips. Yes, I know I ask a lot. So beyond Button, I need to factor in Bub, mostly for the summer but with after-school care in the back of my mind as well. But if I can't get them at the same place then we will work around it. I'm trying to be flexible but I want to be practical too.

My biggest problems are finding trust in daycares and timing. The trust thing, well, that is just something I will have to get over. It's a hard thing but if you are in a situation where you have to trust someone else to care for your child because you have to work then that is what you have to do. But the timing is a problem. Because we don't know when exactly BT will get a new job and how much he will be making, we can't commit to a daycare until then. I'm afraid to put her on lists only to have to turn them down because we aren't ready. So I'm trying not to stress but then I can't help it either.

Sunday pictures: Wicked

Back in May for my birthday, my sister took me to see the musical Wicked when it was playing at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans. It was really good and I enjoyed it immensely. I'd like to see it again one day in fact. The theater adjoined a beautiful park and it was a beautiful day. I've also enjoyed musicals and I really want to take Bub to see Beauty and the Beast when it comes to New Orleans next year.

Currently streaming

Long ago I said I wanted to cancel the satellite TV and just have Netflix and maybe Hulu+. And we kicked the idea around and finally BT agreed despite the fact that it is almost football season. But I ended up suspending it for 6 months to see how we liked having no regular TV before we all out canceled it. So Monday was our last day with regular TV. I subscribed to Hulu on Tuesday and we are giving that a whirl. So far I haven't missed it. I don't watch a whole lot of TV. I use to watch a lot of TV and then I had kids and just stopped. There are a few shows that I really wanted to watch and some of them are available on the services mentioned. But I will mostly miss Cupcakes Wars and Tia and Tamera, two of my favorite shows and ones that I made a point of watching. I think I will survive without them and hopefully they will show up in streaming one day.

I know quite a few people who do this and none of them have said too many negative things. One of my co-workers even said that it was good for the kids since they see a lot less advertisements and that is one benefit I am looking forward to. Bub was getting too invested and wanting too much of what he saw on TV. So this is good in that regard.

I am pretty happy with the selection available so far but I wish there was one more streaming service available. Netflix lacks in some pretty big company areas due to rights agreements and so I wish I could get one more supplementing service. But so far so good. Bub won't care and BT will only care if he gets a daytime job and will be missing football. But as of now Netflix has his science and history shows and so he is good. As far me, well, like I said, I don't watch a lot of TV on my own anymore and the one show I do care about trying to keep up with is available on streaming (Once Upon a Time) so I think I'll be okay. 

Failure to Thrive {part 2}

Button went to the doctor for her 15 month checkup. And as expected she is petite. She's made it back onto the chart as least for height with her whopping 28 3/4 inches tall, putting her at 6%. But she is still low on weight at 17 lbs 10 oz which is less than 3% on the chart. So 97% of all 15 month olds weigh more than her. Hell, she's basically the size of a 9 month old. When we visited her aunt earlier this month I was holding the Niece (6 months younger) who felt about the same weight as Button. And sure enough they are about the same weight. But I think Button may have lost a little weight when she started walking. She has to be tested for anemia just in case and we have to limit her milk since diary can inhibit iron absorption and she has to drink a Pediasure a day to try and help her gain some weight. I will be shocked if she is anemic. I think she is just small. Honestly at 5' 1" I am about the average height of the women in my father's family. Maybe even a little taller. Most of my aunts barely made 5 feet if they did at all. My sister is one of the taller women at 5' 4". I did a height predictor for Button to see about how tall she'll be. It put her at 4' 11". So there's that. I really doubt that she'll get over 5'. I could be surprised, I know, and she could prove me wrong but my point is she is just... small. I read somewhere that a big baby who is going to be a small child will grow at a slower rate and I think that is what is happening. But once again she has been diagnosed at failure to thrive. But seriously she eats all the time and she has learned to walk and is into everything. I don't consider her a failure at anything. I do wish she'd gain some weight so we could quit doing this. Then again I have a 6 year old who still doesn't weight 40 lbs so clearly I have kids who have issues with weight gain.

Cuckoo for Coconut (Oil)

Ever since I had Button my scalp has been really dry. With Bub it was eczema on my fingers. So apparently something weird happens with my skin postpartum. I've been struggling with it anyway. I am always willing to try something new and the internet and Pinterest tell me coconut oil is the be all, end all of solutions. So I went to Fresh Market and got a jar. A big jar since it was the only jar available. But it has so many uses that I figured it would be okay. At home I found a couple of leftover baby jars that I had used to store small amounts of breast milk and that luckily I had not thrown away when I went on the baby feeding throwing away spree (all the bottles and such were discarded along with some of my breast feeding equipment). The internet told me glass was the best way to store it as the coconut oil will absorb some of the chemicals in plastic. I still had three jars so I filled each jar with coconut oil. One for my bathroom, one for Button's room and one for the shower. I decided to use it for a few purposes.

Button has been having trouble with her diaper area. I think in part because of the cheap store brand diapers I sometimes use. I try to use the 7th Generation diapers because they worked so well with Bub and his eczema issues. They are my favorite hypoallergenic diaper. But sometimes we run out or the budget doesn't fit buying them so I'll buy store brand. Nothing wrong with that except I don't think they agree with her skin. She recently was wearing CVS brand. So when I thought I'd try the coconut oil on her to see if that cut down on the redness and itching. And I think it has. She certainly looks better down there and doesn't seem to be scratching that much. So I am keeping a jar in her room and adding it to their baths. Bub still has really dry skin and is prone to eczema in his elbows and knees. I figure the oil in the bath and then some rubbed into his dry patches will help him.

As for me I've been using it mostly on my hair and face. I read somewhere that it makes a great cleanser so at night I've been rubbing some on my face and then putting a hot washcloth over my face for 10 seconds and then wiping it off. It seems to be working and strangely enough my face is less oily throughout the day. And in the mornings I use it on my hair to smooth out some of the frizz and then mix a tiny tiny bit in with my day time moisturizer too.

But the biggest thing I've done is use it as a hair mask. The first night I had it I put it on my hair for about an hour. The problem was I didn't get it all washed out so my hair looks stringy and greasy. Sunday night I put it on as a mask and slept with it all night. I washed my hair with shampoo the next morning and made sure to get it all out. My hair looks really good right now, very bouncy and shiny and my curls look good. So thumbs up on that. The only issue I had is that it was not that comfortable to sleep with a shower cap. So next time I think I'll go back to the 2 hour thing and try a heated towel over it and see how that works.

I have to say I am always skeptic about things that are claimed to be miraculous but this stuff is living up to its hype. I mean I smell kind of tropical but there are worse thing to smell like after all. And it doesn't last all day anyway. I haven't tried cooking with it and I probably won't use it as a deodorant or toothpaste. But it does help with dry and irritated skin, something that is a chronic problem at my house and I'll try anything to help with that. It does melt quickly especially on contact with body heat and I found out you have to be careful where you store it. But at least I don't have to worry about what will happen if Button finds it and tries to eat it like I would most lotions and body oils.

Pregnant pause

Sunday night I dreamed I was pregnant and overdue and I was on the phone with the doctor trying to convince him to let me have the baby now. It was an oddly specific dream and I remember seeing Button playing by the couch and I wasn't sure how I managed to get so pregnant with a toddler. Now I am a big believer that dreams have meaning. Dreaming that you are pregnant means that "an aspect of yourself or some aspect of your personal life that is growing and developing." But I think it is more than that. Because my life is changing mostly through the absence of others.

It seems so many people in my life are moving away and getting new jobs and new lives. And, even though it doesn't have much to do with me, it means that things are changing. By the end of the month my sister will have moved away to Oklahoma and by the end of August BT's sister will be in Indiana. And it is breaking my heart a little though I'd never admit that face to face. I am sad to see them go. I am sad for that means for my kids who will now have no aunts or uncles in driving distance. I wish them all luck and hope they are happy with their new lives but still. So whether or not that respect growth or development for me personally I couldn't say, but it will change things. I got a taste of over Independence Day weekend when we visited BT's parents and it was just us and them. It's going to get some getting use to. Even though BT's sister stopped visiting us at our house long ago we use to see her whenever we visited their parents and that is mostly where we saw her daughter too. So it is going to be different.

My sister lived with our parents so I saw her a couple of times a week. She would take Bub out to do things with him and she was always around. So her move is going to impact more of my day to day life. But I don't want to talk about that right now.

One of the other changes coming is the addition of two new librarians at my library. New people are fun to get to know and I always have high hopes that we will get on. And I am friendly enough that we usually become friends or at least friendly. But the library I work in can be stressful and operates on a somewhat scattered management philosophy. I am excited to have new people and new ideas coming in. I just hope they are happy with their decision especially since both are fresh out of library school and this will be their first librarian job. Both are going to have a lot of pressure.

And the last big thing is my decision to get permanent birth control. I think this is the one that most directly relates to the pregnancy dream. I know 99.9% that I am done having kids. The thought of having another one is giant NO. And so I am going soon to take care of that forever hopefully. But it is a big decision and not one I came to lightly. I'll write more on it later. It's just weird for me because I know all these people at the beginning or in the middle of having kids and making family decisions and here I am at the end. I feel like I am just at such a different stage in my life in that regard.

Sunday pictures: Butterfly

We were at my in-laws' this weekend for BT's birthday which was Friday. It was a nice time but I've had a cold since Wednesday and now BT has it and I'm afraid Button is coming down with it too. Hopefully Bub won't get it as well.
Still it was a nice weekend. Quiet even. Friday I made BT a cake and we went out to eat. Saturday everyone but me swam and the men grilled. It was nice though it rained a little. While we were there a butterfly got wet and allowed BT to carry it around while it's wings dried. He took a few pictures of it on a flower. It was a fairly large butterfly.

She goes walking around

At the end of May right around 14 months Button took her first steps. And thank goodness her dad was there or I never would have heard the end of it. Anyway, she would take a few steps here or there but never very many and never more than maybe 3. So surprise surprise when last Thursday she just started walking. Everywhere. All around the house. She even walked around her aunt's apartment when we visited Sunday. I didn't know how she'd do in an unfamiliar environment but she was fine.

She is a pretty good walker though slow and cautious. But she can pick herself back up when she stumbles, squat and then stand back up and doesn't put her hands up for balance. I guess because she walked sort of a little late. Bub was running by 15 months. He started walking at 12 months, the day after his 1st birthday. I was beginning to think Button was never going to walk. I think she needed to figure it out first before she started. It was like she needed to be able to do all the little things that go into walking so when she started she knew just how to do it. I think this might be a further clue as to how her personality is going to go.

So she's walking. Now everything is in reach and her aunt got a taste of what having a fully mobile, walking toddler is like. Because Button is now even more into everything if that was even possible. I have a feeling no one or thing is really safe anymore. Another milestone down and the difficulty level has been raised.