A Christmas Survery

I snagged this Christmas survey from my cousin-in-law, Natalie at Hope Springs Eternal.


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - Both, all depends on the gift.
2. Real tree or artificial? - I love real ones but hubby doesn't! We have a pre-lit tree up this year!
3. When do you put up the tree? - The weekend after Turkey Day.
4. When do you take the tree down? - Sometime after the New Year.
5. Do you like eggnog? - No! I like my eggs for breakfast not in my drink!
6. What about Fruitcake? - Truthfully, I never even seen a fruitcake up close but even if I did, I don't think I would try any!
7. Favorite gift received as a child? - Babies, Barbies, Kitchen set/fake food, Art supplies. When I got older: Gift cards, Money, Movies, Clothes.
8. Do you have a nativity scene? - Yes!
9. Hardest person to buy for? - My Father-in-law!
10. Easiest person to buy for? - My Hubby and my sister-in-law!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? - No comment!
12. Mail or email Christmas cards? - Mail. FYI: We just ordered them, so we will get them out as soon as we can!
13. Favorite Christmas movie? - "A Christmas Story"
14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? - After Thanksgiving.
15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? - Yes.
16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? - My dad's Pastitsio (Greek dish)
17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? - Clear
18. Favorite Christmas song? - "Carol of the Bells"
19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? - Both.
20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? - Yes.
21. Angel on the tree top or a star? - Star.
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? - Christmas Morning!
23. What is the one present you want most this year? - A Northface fleece coat.
24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? - Some people forget the whole meaning of Christmas.
25. What I love most about Christmas? - Being with our families, the yummy food, the excitement of Christmas morning. Most importantly: getting to watch Claire experience all the joys Christmas can bring!


YOUR TURN!!!

New Crib

We have decided to get a new non-drop down side crib. We could just call and get the kit that doesn't allow your drop down side to be lowered but I am still nervous. They are removing drop down side cribs from a majority of stores and more importantly by February 2010, they will no longer be making those types of cribs. If they are made, they will not be certified safe. It really sucks we have to go spend more money on a new crib but it's something Eric and I feel is the right thing to do. There have been too many infant injuries and death from drop down side cribs and we don't want to be a part of those facts!

These are the two cribs we like from - www.jcpenney.com. They both have stable non-adjustable sides and both come with toddler bed guard rails!

Sometimes I think she would rather not breathe

Every since Claire was born she hates, hates getting her nose cleaned out. Well lately, it has become ten thousand times hard to clean her nose out every morning. This is how our mornings go: We get up and head straight for the changing tables, which is one of her favorite places to be. She talks, smiles, and laughs the whole time until I reach for the "booger sucker"! The moment she sees the "booger sucker" coming at her nose,she starts moving her head from the left to the right and back. While she is doing that she is grabbing at my hand and not letting the "booger sucker" close to her nose. If I make it past that and get the sucker to her nose, she continues to turn her head and push my hand out of her face. Her new thing she likes to do is now is scream every time I get the "booger sucker" in her nose. This whole "capture the booger" game can take up to 5 minutes.Sometimes I feel like she would rather be clogged up all day and only breathe out a small position of her nose, since the rest is all blocked! Babies! If I survive everything and actually get into her nose and capture a booger, she goes instantly back to sweet baby Claire. Man, if she only knew it would be SO much easier and faster if she was a cooperative little girl!

PeekaBoo

How to Make Your Little One Poop...

When Claire was a month old, my mom told me of a little trick to get Claire to poop in case she was unable to go. I never really thought too much about it because Claire has always been a poop machine. Well, lately Claire has been pooping maybe once (maybe twice) a day or every other day. Yesterday, was a day that Claire decided not to poop, well I wanted to see if my mom's little trick would work. During one of Claire's diaper changes, I took a wipe and put it around my finger. I used it to stimulate Claire's "bottom"(yes, her little butt hole). I just "wiggled" my finger on the outside of her "bottom" for a couple seconds, put a new diaper on, and went on with our night. No more then 5 minutes later, she was playing on her tummy on her blanket with daddy, when all of a sudden she start farting and then she pooped, majorly! I couldn't believe the trick worked! I had to call my mom to tell her about our success! I know it's normal at this stage for Claire not to poop every day but when it's been a day or two, I now know a easy way to get her to go! There will be no constipation in Claire's future! Well, at least I hope!

Remember to Burp your Baby...

My experience: a non burped baby = exorcist baby!

Claire is one of those breastfed babies that need to be burped after every feeding and sometimes in the middle of each feeding. She is a very distracted eater. If the television is on, someone talks, or the dogs bark, she will turn to it and continue to turn to it during her feeding, which obviously creates lots of bubbles in her tummy.
So I have learned the signs on when I need to stop "Miss. I'm going to look at everything and create bubbles while I eat" and burp her. I give her 3-4 times of unlatching from the boob before I burp her. Does this tick her off, Hell yes it does! She fussy like no tomorrow but after she is burped and gets "her" boob back, she is a happy baby once again. Well, until we have to do it all over again! So for all the new moms out there, I would rather you just try to burp your baby, that way you won't have to experience your little sweet baby turning into an exorcist baby!

Baby Poop

Claire's little digestive system has finally worked out all of it's "newborness" and she is now pooping once a day or once every other day. You don't understand how much that will save us on diapers. Diapers are NOT cheap, especially when some days we could go through 5-10 diapers. Hopefully this means we are almost through with daily blow outs! I never thought I would get so excited over poopy diapers! Now if she could out grow the spit-up stage, we would be in a very good place!!