With 3 weeks to go on my sabbatical, we're still plugging along. Jada finished school last week, but she also found out that she is being transferred against her wishes to a new school. So she has still been packing for the last several days, but after Ellen's nap I can drive down to the school to feed Phoebe before she gets too angry. Ellen is happy though because she is the beneficiary of all the great books and toys that Jada has bought for her class room with her own money over the past 8 years since it is all coming home for the summer. The downside is the amount of time we were going to spend at home as a family is dwindling since Jada has to pack her class room every day. I have been able to get out on the bike with Ellen a few times for errands. Mostly to the bike shop. Our longest run was to the bank to deposit some checks and then to the bike shop which was 15 miles. It's always fun to pull up through the drive-through teller at a bank on a bicycle.
I've had some pretty bad allergies the last few weeks: runny nose, itchy, watery eyes. It's like a commercial for one of those pills they sell on TV with all the unpleasant side-effects. Phoebe had a week where her one eye was puffy followed by a few days with just the other eye all accompanied by the sniffles. We finished Ellen's meds for her ear infection, and 1 week later, it returned. At the doctor's office, we confirmed that the tube in the left ear is all the way out, and the tube in the right ear is no longer in place. It is lodged in the ear canal. The doctor tried to extract it, but she was not successful. Ellen was very brave during the whole process though. She didn't scream or cry at all. We had a follow up visit with the ear specialist who put her tubes in. Every looked fine today, but she has been on her second round with a slightly stronger anti-biotic. She has been very good about taking it since we switched from using the dropper to the spoon. We're going to wait for another few weeks after the medication is completed before we decide if the tubes are necessary. It's certainly something we don't want to have to put her through again, but we also don't want to have to have her on anti-biotics every 3 weeks either.
Phoebe's personality is really starting to come out. She is quite the smiler and laugher. She joins in with conversations with little giggles and coos. Phoebe is working on perfecting the "raspberry," the tongue spitting sound that babies do so well. She seems to be happy most of the time except when we try to make her take a nap or Jada isn't home to feed her. I've started putting her in her crib every day for nap time while Ellen and I read before we put El in bed for nap. I let her cry for 20 minutes. She has actually fallen asleep a few times. Mostly it will be for 10 to 20 minutes, but once she slept for an entire hour in there. Most of the time I can get her to stay asleep for the afternoon while Ellen sleeps, but it requires me to hold her or rock her for the whole time. I still try to put her down after she's asleep, but going from an upright, over the shoulder napping position to a horizontal on her back position is always guaranteed to wake her up. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this. We need to put her in the bassinet or crib more at night, but the problem is we both fall asleep so we don't think to move her when she's done eating in the middle of the night. It's just a lot harder to do these things when you're also trying to keep a 2 year old asleep all night as well.
Sometime soon Phoebe will be turning over from laying on her back to her front. She desperately tries to turn over, leaning her head far to the side and arching her back. She has very strong legs and can do a little tap dance while you hold her up. She enjoys bath time up until we wash her hair or dry her off. She doesn't like to have anything rubbing her head. She still spits up quite regularly and has moved to a stage where she has fewer BM's. We had to move her into the size 3 diapers to contain everything on the rare poop occasion. (We are still enjoying the gift of diapers from our shower. We never had to buy a single size 2 diaper and are still in the size 3's from our party. Thank you, thank you, thank you!)
Phoebe's Christening was on Father's Day last weekend. A small group of close friends attended. If you didn't get an invite, please don't be offended. Even though I put in my last journal, apparently I forgot to mention it to my parents. (With my vacation addled brain, I barely remember what day it is. Don't pin me down for forgetting to tell people about things). The Priest who performed the ceremony was different than the one who did Ellen's, but it still came off the same way...if a little bit longer. He had brought back some water from the river Jordan to add to the Holy Water at the church for the Christening, so we felt extra blessed. He also added in a story about St. Rose who is pictured in one of their stained glass windows at St. Mary's Cathedral since Phoebe's middle name is Rose.
That about catches us up. We'll write more about Phoebe's first trip to the beach later.
Journal entry: June 17, 2003