Just one of the joys of being a baby

Two weeks ago Autumn had what looked like a popcorn kernel on her upper gum. Since she'd been enjoying kettle korn at my parents the previous night I tried to pull it off which resulted in lots of screaming and my fingers never being allowed in her mouth again. We went to the dentist the next day for her to check it out but alas it was gone by then. Yesterday while at lunch with a friend, Autumn decided to show me her new tooth. In exactly the spot where the strange brownish-yellow blister thing has been. She would not allow me to lift her lip to look at it but my friend got her fingers in Autumn's mouth no problem. Little stinker. Poor baby last night could not sleep. I had to give her Motrin, break out a breastmilk ice cube and even give her a pacifier before she calmed down. I feel so bad for her, I remember getting molars in 9th grade and it was excruciating. She's doing just fine today but I'm sure when that other top tooth pops out in the next few days we'll be back to the sleepless night routine. Here's to tooth number 3! Go Autumn!

I spanked, I feel so bad

Last night Autumn slipped in the tub and bonked her noggin. She was fussy the rest of the night but didn't have any signs of concussion. This morning she was fussy too. Ive read her several books and made sure she was well fed and hydrated. She is grumpy though. Threw her phone at my head (excellent aim for a 15 month old too). Then I went to switch laundry from the washer to the dryer and in the time it took to do that she went into the bathroom, opened the cabinet, opened the drawer in the cabinet, took out 2 bottles of nail polish and 5 or 6 containers of Bare Minerals and threw them in the toilet and FLUSHED it! It was almost overflowing when I came back. I had to stick my damn hand in the toilet and use the pipe snake to get the stuff out. I was so frustrated that I spanked her. I feel terrible but it didn't affect her. I then put her in her crib and took a shower. I think she felt more punished with that than the spanking. I put her down for her nap early. Child is driving me nuts today, doesn't want to be held, doesn't want down. Only seems to want to nurse and I am not an endless supply of boobie for her. I'm hoping she'll be better after some sleep. I need to run an errand or two this afternoon.

Babysitter issues

My aunt has been watching Autumn since I went back to work after maternity leave. She's older (in her 70s) and has been doing a pretty good job until recently. I think she's going senile or something. She lets Autumn sleep until 10:30 or 11 (which she never does when I'm home), feeds her one piece of toast for lunch, no breakfast, and leaves her in the same diaper for 6-7 hours! Poor baby has a blistery diaper rash all over, she screams when she gets her diaper changed and I don't blame her. She can't put her down for a nap since I put the baby swing away and so Autumn isn't getting naps until Jimmie gets home to watch her at about 4PM. Plus, she has been asked over and over to get here at 6:30 and the last two days Jimmie has had to make sure she's on her way as he's leaving the house because she's so late. Today she fell and hit her face between the time Jimmie left and before she got here. She apparently passed out and didn't get here until after 7AM. Which is concerning for two reasons 1) Autumn was alone for 20 minutes and 2) What if something worse had happened, like she died when she hit her head? I've already talked to Jimmie and told him he needs to wait for her before he leaves.

Next year my mom will be working Monday and Tuesday only and has said she will watch Autumn the other days that I'm working (and hopefully I'll be back to M-F by then) so there's a light at the end of the tunnel but until then I'm afraid I'm going to be coming home to a trashed house, dirty baby in wet diapers who's starving. I've talked to her and will again, but I'm not having much faith in it sticking.

More of the baby showers

Made another diaper cake, this one using the ridiculously expensive Seventh Generation diapers. They are unbleached and apparently the bleached ones create dioxin and other VOCs (I'm not sure if the other VOCs are just bleached or all disposables, haven't done that much research). But they have gel in them and you still throw human feces in the landfill (because, really, who throws the poop in the toilet like you're supposed to? I do only because I don't want turds in my washer but if I was using 'sposies I don't think I would) so what's the point of spending 2x as much on hippy diapers? My compromise was gDiapers but those are bleached. I know the whole diaper debate may not be of interest to many of you but I had to weigh whether I would prefer to throw tons of plastic and lord knows what else (caca) in the landfill or use more water resources. My decision was obviously to use cloth and therefore water. But my thinking is also that water can be purified whereas you cannot make more space. Plus, I am not getting any poop in the groundwater. I'm not meaning to come off preachy here, and honestly we do use disposables sometimes, one every night and I have them packed in my diaper bag. I just don't use the expensive ones. Oh yeah, and the articles I read claim that the unbleached diapers are just was white as the others. That's total BS. This diaper cake looked dingy.

Okay, off to Wal-mart for some mass comsumerism.

Hmm, I wonder.....

I've been bad. That's all I'm going to say....but along those lines wondering if I can shove my piercings back in after a year and a half. I miss them. I'll post updates if I can shove those puppies back in.

Love Letter

Dear Autumn,
Today was no special anniversary. It wasn't your birthday or the first time you said a new word. Today was a normal day, we went to breakfast and then to the pumpkin patch. And today I want to tell you how much you mean to me. My life is infinitely better than I ever would have imagined because of you. I would not trade one hair on your head for anything in this world. I love how you so easily took to sleeping through the night. I love how you think it's hilarious when you feed me. I love how you can eat a whole slice of pizza from Dion's. I love how you stop and dance whenever you hear any music, even the news theme. I love how you repeat after me and try to say so many things. I love the way you quack like a duck. I love the feel of your little hands pulling up my shirt to poke my still mushy belly. I can't live without your head leaning on me when I read you stories at night. I am amazed that your favorite toys are books. You are a ham and a flirt and the best thing I could ever imagine. There is no one in the world like you and I am so proud you are my daughter. I can't say it enough, I love you Autumn Nicole!

We have a winner!

Autumn won first place in her age group for Beauty! Yay! She's also second most photogenic for her age group. She gets a trophy and gets to vie for Little Miss NM Baby Pageant! Pretty girl!

A weekend to myself (sorta)

Jimmie left town Friday before I got home from work and has yet to return. He went to haul dead animals off the mountain for his dad. So I went S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!! I bought fabric to make nursing covers, a Halloween Tshirt for me and Christmas lights for the house (yes, I'm that far ahead of myself....truth is, last year I wanted LED icicle lights but couldn't find them so I snatched them up when I found them) I also bought two books, Twilight and New Moon. I literally devoured Twilight, I lay down to read it Saturday night and was up until 2AM. I finished it yesterday evening and started New Moon. Sunday was also the Beauty Pageant, Autumn was very cute and we even saw one of her friends from our old nursing support group. Autumn gave her a kiss, it was very cute. I don't think the mom remembered me though. That seems to be a common occurance, though, apparently I'm very forgettable. Pictures of Autumn in her pageant dress. (Look familiar Nicole?)

At home before the pageant:

She wanted me to wear her hat, so here it is!

On stage trying to make a run for it!

Beauty Contest Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the beauty portion of the New Mexico Baby Pageant. Wish Autumn luck! If she wins she gets a trophy! How fun!

I love when people have babies!

Aside from the diaper cakes I decided it was time to start making nursing covers. These are similar to the Bebe Au Lait/Hooter Hiders that cost $60. My first one took a little while but now that I've figured out exactly what to do I think they will go faster. Here's the first one I made, for my co-worker having a boy due in less than a month.
Also comes with a carrying bag that matches. I'm selling these too! A few of the fabric swatches I have are below. Let me know if you want one!

Not napping

Autumn is usually a great sleeper. Napping has never really been a problem until she started sleeping in her own crib. She will sleep from 9:30PM to 9:30AM. She used to nap after lunch for a couple of hours. The last week or so she hasn't been napping after lunch. She'll nap from 3-5 or so. I suppose it's because of her nighttime sleeping hours but if I want to get something done it's very hard to wait that long. Like for instance today I was planning on cleaning up the table and my desk and as soon as I got her to sleep in comes my mom and the dog. Dang it! She's been in her crib for an hour now not sleeping but not complaining either. And I haven't gotten anything cleaned at all.

Today she also did her first art, some fingrepainting. She wasn't sure about it at first and then took it literally and painted my finger! Here are some pics:

Hmm, what is this stuff?

Good thing this is non-toxic mom!

Fingerpainting taken literally

Serious artiste at work, do not disturb!

Finished masterpiece

Not mommy related

I got my teaching license on Friday. I'm excited and scared because now I know somewhat what to expect with teaching. I know it will be hard and lots of work but it's nothing like what I do now. Every day now just wears on me and I get physically sick to my stomach before going to work. That's terrible and no one should have to do that. My father is upset and says "You wasted a whole year of your life" whereas this time last year he was pushing and pushing me to get my license and teach. He's as fickle as I am. I've put in my application with APS and I'm answering the essay RRPS asks in their application. Probably will also apply with LLPS. I'm not decided on if I will sub or try for a regular classroom, I'll probably have better luck with the subbing department for now.

On a mommy-related note, today was the first contest for the New Mexico Baby Pageant. It was a photo contest and I entered this picture:

We'll get the results after the next two contests. Next week is the beauty contest and the week after is the costume contest. I think she was the cutest baby there, and by far the blondest.

Balloon Glow

Last night we went to the Special Shapes Glowdeo. For those not familiar with that it's when the special shapes balloons inflate at night and light their burners to make them glow. Pretty neat stuff. Autumn was thoroughly fascinated and kept pointing at the balloons saying "up" which is her newest word. She loved the fireworks aftershow too, saying "Oooh" for the first time and then over and over. It was darned cute. Here are some pictures of the balloons:



And one of Autumn sitting in front of the pig, you just can't see the pig:

A job hunt

You may know that I am NOT a fan of my newest job, dispatching for the police. It's frantic and the hours are awful. I don't expect to have a holiday off for several years and it will probably take about 15 before I can get one weekend day off. It's not as much fun as I thought it would be. So I'm looking for a new job. I've applied as a teacher with the city, I've sent in my paperwork for licensure for teaching with APS or RRPS, I've applied at tutor.com and Sylvan learning center, and also at the Bell Group. I'm desperately hoping I get interviews somewhere this week. I don't know how much longer I can do this, it's really wearing on me.

What quacks like a duck?

Autumn does. It's one of the first noises she makes in the morning and she's quite good at it. She doesn't say "quack" but makes a throaty noise that sounds just like a duck. She also knows where airplanes are and points to them anytime we go outside.
The big news of the week is that she's been sleeping in her own bed for five nights now. I didn't openly share that we were bed-sharing because I know a lot of people frown on it but she's been sleeping with us since she was born with some nights in her co-sleeper. She's definitely outgrown that and I'd had enough hair-pulling and groin kicking so I reluctantly put her in her crib. She did wonderfully, she puts herself to sleep and sleeps for almost 12 hours! She's such a big girl now.

A potty disaster

This is from September 25.....Autumn usually squats and poops when I'm on the toilet AND she's started bringing me diapers when she's dirty. I figured it was time to at least start the idea of sitting on the potty. So out I went to buy a potty today, got home, fed Autumn lunch and afterward put her on the potty, all the while modeling what she should do on the big potty. I even turned the water on to help her pee. Well, she had enough after about 10 seconds but I still wasn't finished. She ran out of the bathroom, peed all over the floor in the hallway and then stepped in it. I grabbed her and cleaned up her shoe and the floor and while she was watching me throw the toilet paper from cleaning the pee up in the toilet she peed on the floor in the bathroom. ARGH! But wait, I'm not finished yet! As she's walking in to the bedroom to get her diaper changed she squats and poops all over her shoes! Not a bit on the floor, just her shoes. This required a change of clothes for both of us, changing the changing pad cover, and cleaning the shoes with disinfecting wipes.
I think I'll put the potty in the closet for a while. She's obviously not ready for peeing on the potty.