Packing again, the trip to Nebraska

Last night was ROUGH with the ol' HarriEd.  Maybe it was the whacked out schedules of the weekend, or maybe it was the chocolate chips in her ten month birthday cookie that she ate, but she woke up TEN times last night.  The goofy part was that she would whine and whine and then nurse and then roll over a few moments later and put herself to sleep.  Even though she wasn't nursing back to sleep, she still woke up and woke up her parents, too.  Thankfully, when Harriet popped awake this morning, her dear daddy was equally eager to get her out of bed so I could sleep (or at least lie there for a few moments without her wearing my skin clean off).  

I know I may live to recant this, but with our next kid we are not co-sleeping the way we have co-slept with Harriet.  End of story.  Do you realize that I have been talking about Harriet's sleeping issues since she was eight weeks old?  Eeps!  These have been eight long months of sleepless nights.  But I should quit talking about it and move on to something else.

Like moving!  I have been packing most of the morning.  We are moving on Friday, which seems like it is coming up rather quickly, but the reality is that Steve's last day of work is today and we don't have that much stuff to move.  We were debating whether or not my parents should bring their SUV down to pull the trailer, but we realized the other night that our car is capable of towing such a small trailer.  We are scheduled to get a hitch tomorrow and the trailer on Thursday, so hopefully we can get everything in boxes by then.  We are trying to keep Uhaul in business, it seems.  

The trip to Nebraska last weekend was quick, but I was so so so glad to be there to meet sweet baby Jemima!  She arrived on May 7th (Jacob's birthday), weighed 7 lbs, 7.5 oz, and has the loveliest crop of dark hair you ever did see.  She is just precious and I'm crazy-excited to be an aunt.  If you haven't already seen the loads of pictures on Facebook, here is a link to her album of birth pictures: Jemima

Being in the delivery room after Jemima's birth brought back a flood of memories about Harriet's delivery.  Kylie was taking pictures and when I walked in she said, "Doesn't it make you want to have another one?"  I responded, "YES!"  So yes, baby fever is rather catching and it's taking over a lot of my thoughts.  Of course I treasure these more grown-up-Harriet moments (i.e. I'm not engorged right now), but having another baby would be so wonderful.  Oh well, we'll wait and see.  In the meantime, H and I will spend many an hour over at the Clevi abode, snuggling that sweet baby up.

Harriet is napping right now, which means that I should try to get some more stuff in boxes.  Whee.

The move, the Harriet, and dark chocolate

We had some really exciting news yesterday regarding our move to Nebraska: Steve was offered a job back at BD, five days a week, 3-11pm.  And our benefits package (which was excellent, by the way) would begin immediately.  This is such a blessing for the obvious reason of not having to find a job upon landing in Nebraska, but also because this is a half-way decent shift.  He'll be able to be at church consistently, and I won't have to be home alone at night.  Eeee!  Of course, there are lots of details to be worked out (he has to be all official and re-apply, do a background check, and finalize a start date) and we're praying that those details will work themselves out smoothly.  Sometimes it's hard for me to get excited about circumstances because I worry that those circumstances will be short-lived.  I don't want to be disappointed again.  But why not be happy instead of stressed?  It's a lot easier and doesn't waste so much energy.

We don't have a moving date set in stone yet.  We thought we were going to Atlanta next weekend, but now that is off, so we may be able to move sooner.  My mom is considering driving the fambly's Suburban out here so that we can tow a small Uhaul trailer.  It seems stupid to rent an entire truck ($$$) when the only large piece of furniture is our bed.  I need to start a moving list and getting things into boxes.  Didn't I just do this?

And then we come to Harriet.  I think her new teeth must be bothering her still because she has been cranky. Because she hasn't been eating as much solid food as usual, she has been nursing more.  That's all fine and dandy (I mean, I want her to keep nursing for as long as she needs to and she needs to keep getting sufficient sustenance with the drop off of solid foods), but she gets so frustrated with who-knows-what that she has been biting so crazy hard.  My initial reaction is to yank her off and say NO in my firmest Mommy voice.  But then she gets a sneaky grin on her face and does it all again.  Grrr.  And OUCH.  My dearly beloveded mother who has breastfed five babies with a variety of temperaments and in an abundance of situations told me to pop Harriet off immediately, sit her down on the floor, and walk away.  Without saying a word.  That is hard for me, since I want to explain away the situation, but it seems to be working.  She wails for a while because her ego has been deflated, but then we reconcile and nursing is better.

Sometimes I worry that we are not eating healthily enough.  I mean, I can't afford organic food, and we don't use coconut oil, and sometimes we eat ice cream or syrup or pizza from Pizza Hut.  But I went grocery shopping yesterday and when I was standing in line I compared the items in my cart to the ones in the cart of the woman behind me.  The thing that struck me was that every single thing in her cart was white: ice cream, white bread, ramen noodles, donuts, chips, frosted flakes etc.  No vegetables or fruit or anything that wasn't processed.  No wonder people have a hard time weaning themselves from processed food to healthier choices!  Even though my food wasn't entirely organic, at least I had a cart full of vegetables and whole grains.    I want to be constantly improving in our food choices, but I guess we are still doing a pretty good job of putting healthy things into our bodies.

And in light of that discussion, I will now talk about chocolate.  Ha.  But really, Clara shared this idea with me and it actually is good for you.  Just melt dark chocolate chips and add whole almonds (or whatever kind of nut you like) plus a bit of crushed toffee (okay, this part isn't good for you - it's just good).  Spread it out on waxed paper and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.  Let it set and voila!  The Most Delicious Thing on the Planet. And as long as you don't gorge yourself on mounds of the stuff, you can feel pretty good about eating it.

Steve is off fixing a roof for an older couple from work and I'm off to St. Louis for a grand day out with Jenna.  We're going to check out some of the free stuff, drive through Forest Park, eat at Whole Foods, and just have a good time.  Yay!