Beaba Baby

So this is on my want list for the next baby. I'm really getting sick of supplying money to the Gerber bank when I'm fully capable of making my own baby food. I saw this at William's Sonoma and told Jeff that this is a must have. All the accessories that go with it are just adorable. Aww someday you will be mine.

Back from Green Bay

Yes the Raiders household has returned from our 9 day trip to Green Bay. The ride home was a little less eventful than the ride there. We kept Savannah up as long as we could on Sunday morning so that she would take a nice long nap for the ride home. Well that lasted about 1.5 hours. She was a real trooper though listening to all her Disney and Winnie the Pooh cds. She didn't make a real fuss until 3 hours into the trip. Luckily La Crosse was where we were planning on stopping and resting for a couple hours to give her a break from the car. We left at 1:15 and got home at 8. It was a great day for a drive home too.

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year. It's always fun to eat and eat and eat to your hearts content. There's not many days out of the year that you can really get away with that. Plus our family has so much to be thankful for this year. Here's the short list:
Savannah, Jeff's interview on Wednesday, providing us with a economical wise car, surviving parenthood thus far, having a place to go to for the holidays, being able to be a stay-at-home mom

Friday I did the Black Friday thing. It's really not my favorite day to shop. I would much rather jump over people on the day after Christmas for all the Christmas stuff that's 50% off. That's how I have accumulated a majority of my stuff. I take mental note of certain things I want in the Christmas aisle and aim to get them when they are at a more reasonable price. I did end up nabbing some items that I needed on Black Friday. I can never have enough white long sleeve shirts. They seem to get stained or just plain worn out. I got one at Old Navy for $5. I also bought Savannah a toy at Kohls for 50% for the ride home. A new toy to play with I thought might do the trick but I think she just enjoyed looking out the window for most of the ride.

Saturday Jeff and I went to Appleton shopping for the perfect dress for the Hormel Prom ahem, I mean the Hormel Christmas Party. Pictures to come but Jeff and I both thought it was the perfect dress.

Sunday: Savannah was baptized at Grandma and Grandpa Raiders church. We wanted to do it at a time when the Great Grandparents could also be there for it. It was a very special day. It was the day that Jeff and I stood in front of a congregation and said that we will be raising our daughter in a christian lifestyle. She just wanted to play with the dress. She was so squirmy that day that it was like holding onto a bar of soap. The dress was so slippery and that didn't make it any easier.

So when hopping on the scale upon coming home from GB, I made a said discovery that I didn't meet my weight goal of gaining 10 lbs. So there's still Christmas coming. Most people would think that being thin is something that every woman strives to be. Well I'm going to get a little personal and tell you that its not what its cracked up to be. People make comments about how thin you are and I'm the type of person that I don't know what to say after they make a comment. I'm not a person to be the certain of attention. I don't like attention drawn at me. I like to look good but not enough to draw all the attention on me. Just enough to make myself feel good. I will admit that I don't like the way I look. What woman does though. I know that God made me in his image but I wish he would though a little fat in desirable locations. Even my mother-in-law made the comment as I sat down after I just got done eating supper with a bag of potato chips and dip, how do you stay so thin and eat so much. Thank you! My point exactly. I'm not striving to be "thin". I don't have bulimia or anorexia. I'm really sick of the comments of "you need to eat something" or the sarcastic "your the mom". I eat! Jeff actually gets frustrated at times because I eat so much and when he eats as much as I do, he gains weight.

Onto my next struggle. I'm really caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. It's been this way for a while now. I think it started when I lost my job or else shortly there after. Anyways, Jeff wants me to go to bed with him every night. I try my best to do whats pleasing to him because really he doesn't ask for a lot. When he does ask for something he usually has a good reason behind it. I need my "me" time before going to bed. I need to have time to fold laundry that I didn't get to or simply watch a show without a little one screeching in the background. It's a time when I don't have Jeff calling my name to have me help him with something. We have tried to make a compromise where I will go to bed but get up and do my things that I want to once he's asleep. That didn't last very long because the sign of an argument he throws in my face "but you leave me when I fall asleep." How did I know that would come to bite me?! We need to figure out some kind of way to fix this before we have another child. I will eventually NEED that time of having no babies crawling on me or demanding my attention. Some time to just unwind and relax my mind so I don't go crazy. It's not that I don't want to sleep next to him when he goes to bed but I just need some sanity too. He tells me that I need my sleep and that's why I should go to bed. He's right but I don't fall asleep as easily as he does. Maybe it will get better when he doesn't have to wake up at 5am anymore and gets a position with a little more flexibility. Until then...let the battle continue.

Here's to hoping for another good nights rest.

Vacation Part 2

I can't believe it's already Wednesday. This vacation is going by way too fast. But what vacation doesn't!? Jeff and I are getting some much needed family time together. On Monday I didn't change a single diaper. That has never happened in the past 6 1/2 months. I realized that I hadn't changed one once I got to bed. Oh it's so nice to have helpers.

Monday Jeff and his dad worked on getting trains up. His dad has a train set he sets up every year with Department 56 houses. It was a train set passed down to him. A family tradition. Savannah and I stayed upstairs and just relaxed. So far my vacation has not been about taking naps or sleeping in. Actually it's quite the contrary. I have not slept past 7am this whole vacation yet. Savannah has insisted on getting up earlier than ever. And really isn't in the mood to take naps either. There's just so much going on. She doesn't want to miss anything.

Yesterday we met with Pastor Don to discuss the Baptism that's going to take place on Sunday. Jeff and I view it as a time when we stand up in front of everyone and say we will be raising this child as a child of God. I know everyone has their own interpretation of what baptism means to them. That's just how Jeff and I view it.

Last night as I was feeding Savannah her supper she fell asleep. I put her spoon in her food and put it up to her mouth to see her eyes close. Ok, sometimes your just too tired from playing and deciding your not going to take a nap that you have to crash. You can't party all day long.

Vacation Part 1

I had not been feeling well the past week so on Thursday night we decided that we would skip going to the cities and just drive to Green Bay on Saturday morning. I started feeling somewhat better on Friday and got laundry done so figured that we would just head out after Jeff got off work. The first half of the drive was a breeze. Savannah slept the whole way so we stopped for supper in Tomah to give her a break from her car seat. When we got back in the car to start going for the rest of the journey, Savannah was very fussy in the backseat. Nothing seemed to soothe her. I would sing (poor Jeff) and that would take care of the problem for a little bit. (I told Jeff that we need a kids song cd very badly so that he wouldn't need to hear me sing off key the whole rest of the way). I needed a late night snack by the time we got to Green Bay so we stopped at a grocery store. I decided to stay in the car with Savannah. I stretched myself back to see her in her rear facing car seat to discover that she had puke all over the front of her. How long had she been riding with that? Poor girl. I know it couldn't have been more than an hour because I had gotten in the backseat with her for a while until she fell asleep again at 9 when we only had another hour and a half left of the drive.

We finally reached destination Gma and Gpa's house. I quickly got her out of the car and into some fresh air. She decided to throw up one more time before I put her in the bathtub to calm her nerves down and clean that smell off of her. When attempting to put her to sleep she wouldn't stop squirming. I know have learned that that's a signal I really should know by now. I picked her up from her pack n' play only to have her throw up once more on my clean pajamas. Well so much for packing enough clothes to get us through a few days before I would have to do laundry again. I don't know why she keeps getting sick on these road trips. Is it from riding in the car backwards? Is is from her anxiety of being stuck, strapped down for hours on end? (Anders and Lynsee, aren't you glad we weren't at your house now!) 

We have had a wonderful time so far. We have went shopping and Grandma has spoiled Savannah so much. Savannah I think is enjoying all the affections of love showering on her. All the attention goes right to Savannah. It's such a blessing to have a daughter and such wonderful family to share these moments with. Even though I have a car seat to scrub down now which I'm sure will not be the last time I need to do such a thing, I would not trade her for the world. There's so much more vacation time left and the 300 lb person inside of me cannot wait to eat a tasty meal on Thanksgiving.

So far I have gotten to eat:
cordon bleu
red velvet cheesecake
loaded fries
Papa Johns pizza

YUM!!!!!!

Just out of reach

Savannah has started this new trend of wanting the toy that is farthest away from her. She will have every ring off her pyramid of rings but the blue one that got away is the one that she wants. Sometimes her need to have the one that's farthest away has some consequences such as falling forward for the first time. As I sat on the couch watching her today I realized that this is just another stage in her development. She is amazed at the fact that she can stand with mommy's help. It's a child's prerogative to always been wanting something that's out of reach. Once they learn how to roll, that's fun for a while until they have to find something else that will entertain them just as much.

Then it got me thinking even more. Isn't that the way we are all wired!? We all want to reach for something. We all have a goal in mind and just sometimes that goal is slightly out of reach. We lean over to try to grab it but we can only feel a glimpse of it. So we sit back up and try once more until we finally get it within reach. We can learn a lot through a small child. Never to give up on that goal for someday either someone will come and hand it to you or you will finally figure out a way to reach it yourself.

Just one of "those" days

Savannah's cold is finally letting up I feel. I woke up to her smiling and kicking her legs this morning. A big sigh of relief I felt coming on. We sat and watched Regis and Kelly this morning while snuggling on the couch. It was so nice to be able to snuggle on a chilly morning. I went about my normal morning routine of checking email and getting a shower. It soon came to be Savannah's morning nap time. I could not get her to stop fussing. I decided that she must just not be hungry. She must just want to lay down. I noticed when I laid her down that when she normally props both her hands behind her head and finds a comfy spot in the pillow, she only put her right hand behind her head and left the otherside along her side. Well this was odd. I picked up the arm but she was not a fan of that idea. I felt a limp, lethargic arm. I began to panic in my mind thinking of what could have happened. How did I just notice this? Has it been like this all morning? Did she use her left arm yesterday? Ahh yesterday. I recalled an incident when she had fallen backgrounds after sitting up. I went to pick her back up with only one hand. ( I know I shouldn't have done that.) I've done it before with no problem. I had something else in my hand and just wanted to quickly sit her back up. I felt this awful mom feeling come over me. It just so happened that her 6 month well child appointment was today so I thought what a perfect time for something to go wrong. I spent the rest of my day in worry and dismay at the fact that something like this had happened. The doctor reassured me that it was very common and that it could happen again but now we know what to do when it does happen. It was a very good, teachable moment. I realize that as a first time parent I'm going to make mistakes. This is probably not the first one that I'm going to make but at least this one was fairly easy to fix. Just a little prick to my heart to show me just how much I love my daughter and how much I don't want anything bad to happen to her. If I had a choice and knew that she wouldn't be stared at, I would wrap her in bubble wrap so that she would be protected always. Now I know that I can't do such a thing so I will just have to be extra careful next time but also realize that kids are going to get hurt.

Her well child went very well. She is in the 99 percentile of pretty much everything. Doctor was very pleased to see how well developed she is. That makes for some pretty proud parents.

Wisconsin Dells

This weekend Jeff, Savannah, and I all got loaded into the car and went on a 3 hour drive. Destination: Wisconsin Dells. The plan was to surprise Jeff's mom for her 50th birthday. She just so happened to have called me on Friday night asking me what our weather was doing down here. I remained nonchalant on the phone but inside I was bursting to tell her the exciting news. I asked her what she had planned for the weekend. She replied with a list of "to do" items that she had lined up before Thanksgiving. I got off the phone and told Jeff "your dad is going to have a hard time getting your mom out of the house this weekend. She has a list."

Upon arriving at Wisconsin Dells at the cabin that was rented for us to stay at for the weekend Jeff's mom was definitely surprised. His dad on the other hand had to drive a person 2.5 hours that was getting more agitated that her list was not getting done. That was until she saw all of us waiting for her on the end of her road trip. What a surprise!! Whewww I for once didn't spoil the surprise. I am quite proud of myself.

We went out for lunch at Famous Dave's where Savannah decided to share more of herself with me than I had planned. She has had a cold the last couple days. Well at the restaurant she started choking on her phlegm and ended up throwing up all over. My reaction was to stick my hands out to catch it but my hands weren't big enough when she kept going. I felt so bad for the waiter. I had one of those you know your a mom when...you catch your child's puke but just go wash your hands and return to the table to finish your meal.  Savannah slept most of the weekend. Her cold really did her in along with her teething. I can't wait till those teeth pop through. She is so miserable. For instance, she took an hour nap on Grandma's chest today, 2 hour nap at the water park, 3 hour nap on the way home, and oh by the way she is taking another nap right now. Poor little girl.

Wisconsin Dells just really hit the spot this weekend. It was so nice to just spend time as a family. No work. No interruptions. No one but family. It was something that Jeff and I had been missing out on for the past month. Jeff put his arm around me and says it feels like we haven't spent time together for a month. Um thats because that's how long its been. Between working weekends, helping dad roof his house, deer hunting, and more work its just taken up a lot of "our" time. Savannah wasn't as excited about the water as I wanted her to be. I can't blame her though. She will like it next time when she's not so sick. I think we may take her to a waterpark in Green Bay when we are there next week. I haven't gotten my satisfacation of seeing her splashing in the water yet with her new swim suit. I just happened to have it overnighted to make sure she had one for the waterpark. All in all it was so nice to get away for a weekend. I can't wait till next week when we get to do it longer. It always goes by way too fast.