Back to Work

This Friday marks the end of my first full week of school. I went back to work last Friday (the 23rd) and have been hard at it ever since. The transition has gone pretty well, but free time is at a bare minimum these days as you can probably tell from my lack of posts this past week! Here are my thoughts....


What's gone really well...
Grace is doing fantastic with her various babysitters. She doesn't seem to have a problem napping no matter where she is or who she's with. This is not only amazing on her part, but it also makes it a lot easier for me to leave for work with one less stress. Olivia has also been pretty cooperative in the morning about getting ready and leaving with either Brian or me. One day this week though Brian made the mistake of saying to Gracie, "Are you ready to go to Grandma's?" Olivia heard and was majorly pumped up all excited to go to Bapa's house. We quickly changed our story and explained that Gracie had to go to the doctor's to get a shot. Olivia accepted that pretty quick - thank goodness - she knows what shots are and clearly wasn't interested in going anywhere she might get one!

What's gone okay...
It's been challenging getting ready in the morning. I've been getting up at 5:45 which can be a chore depending on what Grace did for the night. More nights than not, Grace has slept till about 5:00. While this is fantastic, it's also difficult because it means that my day starts off pretty early. Despite this, I always seem to be rushing around trying to get everything and myself out the door by 7:30. I did pretty well going to bed at a reasonable time at the beginning of the week, but this unfortunately didn't continue for the later half. I need to do a better job with this for everyone's sake - mine, my family's, and my student's!


What I like...
I admit that I do like knowing that my students missed me and are glad that I'm back - makes me feel appreciated. I also do like being challenged at work getting plans and activities ready. I'm teaching one of my favorite novels - The Great Gatsby - which helps the enjoyment level too.

What's been difficult...
Of course, it's been difficult to leave Grace. However, I do think this was easier the second time around and because I'm leaving her with Brian or another relative.... Going from being home with her to daycare would have been more of a challenge I think because I wouldn't feel so good about how much one-on-one attention she'd be getting. (Don't get me wrong though - I love our daycare!) Getting not as much sleep as I need has been difficult, but I'm dealing. It's also been a challenge pumping at work. It's hard to relax and just generally not easy when you're sitting in a storage room that's ten degrees colder than comfortable. However, I am determined I will prevail - only five more weeks until summer and then things will go back to normal. Grace is so good at nursing that it seems silly to stop just because. At school, it's been a challenge to stay on top of things. So far, I'm doing okay. I truly do enjoy getting plans and activities ready, but I certainly am not a big fan of grading - didn't miss that at all. It's difficult to not let the piles build up. I'll make it though!

So, all in all, things have gone pretty well - better than I expected at least. I am very excited for summer though and can't wait to spend more time with the girls! It will be so fun to take the girls to the pool and park and to play outside. Last summer I was dealing with some 1st trimester sickness which made it things challenging with how much Brian was gone. This summer will be a bit more "typical," and although it will be crazy busy, it will be a great time too!

Grace Elizabeth - Three Months!

Today Grace turned three months old! It's amazing how much she has grown and changed these last few months. This last month in particular has been really fun as Grace has started interacting even more with tons of smiles, cooing, and even some giggles. The pictures throughout are my attempt at professional photography. I love using my new camera, and it's fun to edit pictures on my computer and play with cropping, coloring, etc... Enjoy - and I'll fill all the photo requests I've gotten eventually, I promise!


Playtime: For about a 2 week period starting right around Easter, Grace was a rolling machine. I actually had trouble keeping her on her tummy sometimes because she's just roll over right away. Of course, the moment I decided to attempt to get this on video she stopped rolling over. Apparently, she's mastered that skill and doesn't need any more practice. Grace can lift her head at a 90 degree angle and is following objects really well. She's a great talker and seems to understand she'll get attention if she makes some noise. Grace also is becoming interested in the toys that hang down from her play-gym.

Eating: Still doing great in this department!


Sleeping: Grace is doing so well! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to always say this. Sometimes I can't believe that I was so stressed about her not sleeping at one point. Typically she takes one 3+ hour a nap and then a three 1 hour ones throughout the day. One of these naps is typically in the baby bjorn. At night, Grace is amazing. She goes to bed without much fuss at 7:30 and then, most nights, sleeps till somewhere between 4:00 and 5:30 in the morning! Grace is also sleeping with her arms out of her swaddle now. She puts herself to sleep sometimes by sucking on her fingers. One of my favorite things about putting Grace to sleep is that she falls asleep holding my finger nine times out of ten.

Schedule: This month, I can say we actually have one of these! Wake up = 6:30, First Nap = 7:30, Other Naps = okay these aren't so scheduled except for 3:45 in the baby bjorn, and Bedtime = 7:30.


Favorite things: Being talked to, smiling at anyone who gives her attention, watching the flashing lights on the Baby Einstein music player, being carried face out in hanging position, watching big sister Olivia, hanging out in the baby bjorn - Grace can face out now although we don't do this when I know a nap is on the way, and taking baths (video coming in the near future).


What she can't do (yet): Reach for objects - although I think this is not so far away as she's gazing at them very intently as if she wants to touch them.

What she can do: Smile very frequently, suck on fingers on a very regular basis (no thumb yet though), refuse to keep the pacifier in her mouth, follow objects, look at a new person who arrives near her, and bring hands together over chest.


What I hope: That Grace continues to handle all her babysitters so well and continues to be such an easy going little girl. And, I still hope that one day Olivia will call Grace Grace instead of Baby.

Grace has been such a blessing in our lives. It's so fun to watch her and Olivia together. I feel so lucky to have two wonderful and beautiful little girls!

Luther Norse

Today the Luther Norse had three tennis meets all at home. Since the meets weren't against the strongest teams, Olivia got to play assistant coach this morning (while Grace took a 3 hour nap!). She headed up to Luther with her daddy at 8:30 dressed in her Norse sweatshirt and very excited to be heading out of the house.

Olivia did great hanging out with dad and watching tennis and was as content as could be until she spotted her grandpa in the upper level of the Regents Center. She managed to get an invite over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some yummy fruit-snacks and lunch. Auntie Tara was in town too, so Livy got to play with her too!


After nap time (both girls actually napped at the same time!), we headed back to Luther for the three o'clock matches. Thankfully it had gotten nice at this point so the matches were able to be played outside. All of us were dressed in our Norse gear, but unfortunately I never actually got a family picture taken! I did get some good pictures of Olivia, Grace, Roger, and Brian though that are pretty cute. Gracie did great taking a little snooze in the baby bjorn. After that she was eagerly held by many of the Luther ladies. Olivia entertained everyone with her spunkiness. She's clearly already very comfortable at the tennis courts!


By the way - the Norse men finished 2-0 for the day and the woman 1-0.

'Ol Baldy

These pictures say enough... Our little Gracie's definitely developed a bald spot!

The Garden - Part 1

A couple of weekends ago when my mom and brother came to visit, I mentioned to Nate, as he was already super exerting himself digging up all my hostas, that some day I'd like a garden. I then pointed over to my massive peony patch and said, "I think that would be a good spot." To which Nathan replied, "We can do that." I have a feeling that I'll be fighting the "it's impossible to kill me" peonies and their massive root system for the next 50 years or so, but it's awesome to have a space to grow a few veggies of my own in the meantime. A million thanks to Nate for digging up all my peonies in addition to doing a load of other yard work! Really, when I mentioned someday I had no idea that would mean this year! Nathan is good inspiration for me as he has a HUGE garden along with lots of good tips to pass on - I've already made a few phone calls to him with questions about simple things that probably make him roll his eyes! :)


Yesterday I straightened out the edges, turned some more dirt over, pulled out more bluebells than you can imagine (along with some already fighting back peonies), and planted my first veggies. As you can see (okay, I realize you can't see much) I planted lettuce starters. In addition to lettuce I planted onion (pre-started onion stinks to plant but smells yummy by the way!), sweet peas, and cucumbers. I had a few OCD moments when I realized my rows weren't straight and that I'd probably planted things too close together, but I managed to resist the urge to "re-do." Pathetic, I know... :)


Soon to be planted are a couple of green peppers, three types of tomatoes, carrots, and green beans. I think I'll end up planting the tomatoes in pots since I'll probably run out of space. That might actually be nice though since they get so huge and tend to take over anyway.

I'm hoping that I didn't take on too big of a task with starting a garden this year. I'm hoping that once everything is up and growing and I get a newspaper weed barier laid down, that things will take care of themselves pretty well. I highly doubt that I can count on Olivia for any weeding help, but maybe this fall she'll like to help pull the carrots out of the ground. I'm looking forward to some home-grown veggies this summer! There's somethig extra tasty about eating veggies you've grown yourself!

I Love My Cousins!!!

This past weekend, Olivia's cousins Max and Mya came to visit and stay with Grandpa and Grandma. We got to spend some time together both Friday and Saturday afternoon.

Friday was filled with fun playing on bikes and with all the other toys at "Bapa" and "Momma's" house. "Bapa" was especially busy as all the kids wanted him to push them on the toys - I tried to help out, but was told by even my own daughter, "No, Bapa push"! I think the kids played in the garage and on the driveway for at least 2.5 hours before we were able to get them inside for dinner!


We all went to the tennis match on Saturday to watch Luther vs. Carleton. The Luther women won 5-4 and the Luther men lost 5-4. The kids did fairly well considering that they were pretty tired - by the way, Olivia and Mya each took a 2.5 hour nap that afternoon! The kids entertained themselves (and others) with tennis balls, climbing on chairs, and eating snack. At one point Max wanted me to toss him a few balls so that he could "play tennis." No problem, I thought - I can do this while watching tennis out of the corner of my eye. Or not... My first toss to Max came flying right back at me with some good pace behind it! Maybe a future Norse tennis player???


It's been fun to see Olivia, Max, and Mya's relationship develop over the past six months especially. I think it's safe to say that they all get along pretty well! The past few times we've all gotten together, they have played together much more. In the past they more played alongside each other. Of course, though, playing together also means we have an occasional "my," "mine," or some other possessive pronoun, gesture, or sound come out! Generally though, they share pretty well, and, most importantly, they entertain each other so that we adults can actually have some conversation!

The girls chased Max on his bike for quite a long time!

This last visit marked some good camaraderie between Olivia and Mya. It was fun to see them joining in on the same activities, taking turns, and sharing. Olivia definitely learns to move fast from watching Mya! I was espeically excited to see Olivia pushing Mya in the cart for once! Usually it's the other way around, and I always joke with Beth that there's a reason Olivia has some chunky thighs and Mya doesn't!


And one more picture, just to show that Max and Mya give Grace some love too!!!

A Sleep Update

I feel like I owe it to little Gracie to update everyone on how she's doing in the sleep department... Well, I'm happy to say that we've made great strides since I last wrote about this issue. Last night (and I'm knocking on wood as I write this) Grace slept through for the first time!!! And I mean she really slept - 7:30 until 6:30 - impressive!

Grace is doing better with napping too. I've finally identified her "sleep" cry so don't feel like I'm missing her sleep window as much as I was in the past. She's also going to sleep without quite as much fanfair. I've got her taking 2 really good naps a day, 1 decent nap, and then some cat naps in the evenings. I'd like to get down to 3, but seriously, I don't have the right to be picky right now and I'm not going to complain! In my book - a nap is a nap.

The napping has been good for everyone. I feel like Grace is happier and, I admit, I'm happier too. I feel like I can get so much more done and have a little time to relax as well. Plus, generally, I feel less stress about going back to work (I go back on April 23) because I feel like I could actually describe her schedule to someone.

I'm totally shocked at how well Gracie has been doing at night. For the past week she's only been getting up once. I thought that was pretty impressive by itself since Olivia got up twice until she was about 6 months old. I'm not going to expect her to sleep through the night all the time, but it's great to know she can!

So, although we still have our moments in the sleep department (usually involving crying, fussing, and/or Brian or I running up the stairs to give Grace her paci or to stop her flailing arms), we have made some major progress. Keep it up Gracie!!!

Growing Up...

Every now and again it just hits me that Olivia is growing up so fast. I'm sure I'm not the first parent to say that they can't believe how big their "baby" has gotten! Recently, I've had a lot of these moments and so have decided that it's time to make a list of all the things that Olivia can now do that she couldn't/didn't/wouldn't only a couple of weeks ago.

* Sleep on a pillow
* Reach up and take her sippy off of her high chair tray
* Climb onto the couch or anything else
* Run really well
* Recognize both grandma's and grandpa's houses
* Say "yea" when she's excited
* Go up and down our little backyard hill just for fun
* Throw an occasional tantrum
* Eat cookie dough
* Jump getting both feet off the ground at the same time
* Ask to go "da-da" (bye-bye) when she's bored
* Say three-word phrases - my favorite is "I did it!"
* Climb in and out of the tub (although I insist on helping)
* Sing to herself on a fairly regular basis
* Say teriyaki sauce - well, kind of...
* Smile when told to (for the camera)
* Run away if she doesn't want her picture taken
* Get one leg successfully in her pants
* Take her shirt off (once I help with one arm)
* Put her head into her shirt (sometimes successfully through the neck)
* Understand she can't be done until she takes one more bite
* Put her coat on (usually backwards)
* Take her coat off - including undoing the zipper
* Jump or want to jump off of objects (some safe, some not)
* Give "big hugs" and actually squeeze you tight

The Sandbox!

Much thanks to Olivia's Aunt Beth who asked me a while back if I'd like to get a sandbox for Olivia. I'm so glad that I said yes because ever since we filled it up, Olivia has been a huge fan! It was fun to see her learn to enjoy playing in the sand and becoming comfortable with being a bit dirty - I have a very girly girl on my hands!

With a little help from Uncle Nate, Grandma Thornton, and mom, it didn't take Olivia long to learn how to fill her bucket, brush the sand off of her hands, and make some sand castles! Her favorite phrase during all this was "mommy too." When Brian got home from his tennis match, Olivia was quick to show him her new toy and demonstrated how much she loved it by climbing right on into the box and sitting down. Olivia's at such a fun stage where it seems like she thinks that everything new she is discovering is new to us too. I love that she wants us to share in the experience!

Olivia's friend Elliot came over to play while Brian and I along with Elliot's parents went to a tennis dinner. Here are a couple pictures of them enjoying the sand.

Puddle Jumpin'

After a rainy afternoon, there were lots of puddles in the alley by our house. Olivia was very interested in these and was ready to walk right through them in her shoes. We convinced her to wait until we got on her super cute rain boots from Auntie Tara. She loved jumping in the puddles and making splashes! Lots of giggles accompanied all the splashing!

Sisterly Love

So far so good in the sisterly love department at the Huinker household these days. We are very lucky to have such a loving little girl who was immediately so willing to welcome a baby into the household! Of course we've had a little jealousy show every now and again but only in very minor form. The only reminding we've had to do is to say gentle as Olivia "pets" Grace. From the very beginning Olivia was sharing her silky with Gracie, giving her kisses, and hugs, and asking where she was. She's such a wonderful big sister!



Recently, our two little girls have started to bond even more. Gracie is always looking at Olivia when she is close by, and I imagine this will definitely continue as she gains better head and neck control. Grace will smile at Olivia too and doesn't seem to mind when Olivia gives her hugs (even those these sometimes appear to strangle Grace), kisses, "knucks," and high-fives.


Olivia is very interested in Grace's well-being. She wants Grace to sit in the swing so she can push her (this can only happen with supervision as the swinging can get a little ferocious) or she wants Grace to sit on the couch with her as she has her snack. Olivia also gets concerned about Grace being lonely. When Grace is hanging out on the floor, Olivia thinks she (along with mommy and/or daddy) should lie down next to her too - and yes, there have been a few fits when I don't want to lie around on the floor for more than a couple of minutes! Olivia now understands that she can't give Grace food but that she can give Grace her "paci." The other day she wanted Grace to go down her slide because she was having so much fun herself. Olivia often requests that Gracie be put into the car or get her diaper changed "foost" (first), and she also asks to "hold er" which she does for about 10 seconds before she's "all done."


One of my most favorite things is that Olivia seems to be picking up on other people's emotions - especially Grace's. Recently, she's started saying "Baby happy" along with mommy and daddy happy too. She knows the difference between "Baby talking" and when Grace is fussing. It's pretty neat to see how much she loves her sister. Grace frequently gets a kiss goodnight before I do, and I love that I don't have to ask her to do this. In the mornings she also says "hi" constantly for the first few minutes she sees Grace, and if Grace is still sleeping when we bring Olivia into our room to hang out in bed for a bit, she's always asking "Where Baby?" and wants to go get her out of the crib.


I can't wait to see the bond between Olivia and Grace develop as they grow older. I hope this bond manages to strengthen so much that they'll even manage to come out of "teenager-hood" as best friends!

Gottcha!

Grace has been flashing us many smiles these days, and thanks to my new camera, I've actually been able to capture some of those smiles pretty easily. Grace doesn't seem to mind the flashes and weird black object pointed her way as long as I'm talking to her in a high-pitched, sing-songy voice! Gracie is the happiest and quickest to smile in the mornings and after waking up from naps (who wouldn't be happy after a good nap!), but it only takes a little work to get smiles at other times too! She's also a pretty happy camper during diaper changes - Grace (just like Olivia was) is a huge fan of being naked - and during baths. It's pretty cute to see her kicking her legs and flailing her arms about because she's so excited. She usually starts doing this the moment I lay her on the towel in the bathroom and turn on the space heater. It's neat how she knows what's coming. I'm looking to the giggles I know will be here shortly. Olivia gave me her first giggle when I was changing her onsie after a blow-out diaper. As I was taking her shirt off, I found her ticklish spot! It's so rewarding to see Grace enjoying herself and her family!

Easter 2010

We had a fantastic Easter weekend.... Much thanks to my family for all the help with Olivia and Grace and for the great trips to the zoo and Children's Museum. Olivia and Grace clearly love their Ba-pa, Momma, and Auntie Ty. Olivia fairly consistently was asking to go outside with her Ba-pa, and Thyme was a trooper about letting Olivia follow her around everywhere! Gracie in particular loves her Grandma. I can probably officially say that Gracie smiled at her the most the entire weekend.


Saturday we went to visit my step-dad's grandma in the nursing home. The kids were a big hit as could be expected and it was great to see Peg looking so well - even thought she doesn't remember me, I'm glad to have many memories of her and her spicy personality!

After naps on Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt. It didn't take Olivia long to get the hang of "hunting," and it was pretty cute to see her expressions as she discovered her eggs. Thanks to Grandma for all the tasty treats and to Auntie Thyme for being such a good example and so helpful to Olivia. This is definitely the start of an Easter tradition.


Saturday evening, my brother Nathan came down from the Cities to spend the night. It was great to see him and get a chance to catch up. We're looking forward to seeing him again this coming weekend!!!

Sunday morning Olivia got to discover (with much help!) both her and Gracie's Easter baskets. She was excited about the suckers and bubble wands. I'm looking forward to next year when she'll understand more about the Easter Bunny (and Santa Clause too!).


Miraculously, we were all able to get ourselves ready to get to church on time. Gracie fell asleep and was quiet the entire time. Olivia did pretty well. She did attempt to go up for the Children's Moment, but it was short lived. After flashing the congregation by lifting up her dress, she did take a seat on the steps with Thyme for a few brief seconds. Then, when she discovered that "mommy too" was not an option, she came back to the pew. Her only other outburst was to say, of course during a moment of silence "YUCKY" loud enough for everyone to hear. Talk about timing!


We had a delicious Easter brunch and after went outside for a little sun, some bubble blowing, and a photo shoot before getting in the car and heading home. Terrible mother that I am, poor Gracie has no pictures of her first Easter. Olivia is reaping the benefits of being the first child in that department I'm afraid - the last picture is my favorite. I promise a photo shoot of Gracie very soon!