Life with Estee

Estee video

2006-11-14T02:12:00.000-10:00

Sorry it has been a while. It has lately gotten to the point where I'd much rather just enjoy Estee then type up about it. Sitting and typing up all her funny stories isn't as easy as it used to be either. I have a lot to say and hopefully will type it out one of these days soon but in the meantime, enjoy this video of my child jumping on the bed. Yeah, that's right. And we sing: No more Estee's jumping on the bed!

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my little girl

2006-10-10T02:03:00.000-09:00

It has been a while since I last posted. When Estee was a newborn although I wasn't getting any sleep it was easier to post because she wasn't going anywhere. Now that she's walking, she doesn't want to stop. Maybe that's why I'm finally losing weight. finally. I'll do my best to update you on what she has been doing. To me, she is the funniest kid in the world. I can sit and watch her all day long. She has gotten herself into climbing. I no longer can leave her alone in the living room just to run into the kitchen. I can no longer run to the bathroom. She needs to come with me everywhere. This may sound extreme but the other day I walked into the kitchen for a second and when I came out Estee was sitting on the couch. You're probably wondering what the big deal is. Well, Estee is unique you see. For Estee, being on the couch involves standing up and either jumping, climbing up to the windowsill or best of all standing straight and allowing her body to fall straight back to plop down onto the couch. It truly is funny to watch but if I don't sit there she will throw herself right off of the couch. She doesn't have very good spatial awareness yet. (I definitely used the wrong OT term, anybody?) Yesterday the tray from her highchair wasn't on and she decided to use her highchair as a ladder. Come to think of it, every thing in our apartment is now Estee's ladder. Her toy car, her highchair, the couch, the windowsill, the list goes on. I'm seriously surprised that I don't wake up in the middle of the night to find her in my bed, having climbed out of her crib and into my bed. I definitely would not put that past her. Her favorite pastime as of late is climbing up and down steps. But only if we are outside. And, she only wants to do it standing up and holding your hand. Once again, she has absolutely no danger awareness because she would just walk right off the top of the concrete stairs. I certainly don't need a stairmaster that is for sure.
Estee has been trying to communicate much more lately too. Her words now include: Up, atta- either eat or pizza, haven't quite figured it out, hot- which means hot, cold, food, and various other things, nanananananannanana- no!, ayt- outside, abf- bath, and of course the original Abba- which represents all other words including, Abba, mommy, dog, Elmo, bubby, etc. I would just like to take this moment to add that over the past few days Estee has said mama when prompted. She can say mmmm and when I show her mama she says it but then she still just calls me abba. I also have to say that I got a little misty when she did actually say mama. It's about time I only gave birth to the kid!
Estee loves "this little piggy went to market." She has the book and a few of her cds have the song version (which is really not much of a tune at all). Every time I read her the book she points to her toes because she wants me to do it on her toes. And, when I get to the part that "this little piggy cried wee wee wee..." she says "ada da da da da" in a very high pitched voice like me. And- when she hears the song she runs for the book screaming "da da da da da da."
One final story: If Estee is playing with my cell phone or her toy phone she always hands it to me so that I can put it by my ear and say "hiiiiiii(high pitched excited woman's voice) how are you? you wanna talk to Estee? okay, hold on...."
she then takes the phone and walks around the living room for a few minutes with the phone on her shoulder saying "hiiiiiiiiii" in her own version of high pitched until she is ready to give me back the phone to do it again. This is the only game I can think of wherein she isn't calling everyone I know with my cell phone and leaving them voicemails of my most embaressing moments. Yeah, she does that too.

where's your belly button?

2006-09-25T15:35:00.000-09:00

I just taught Estee where her belly button is. So, now when we do our repetoire of where is your head, where is your tounge, etc, she can now point to her belly button. The problem is she randomly points to my belly and says "Abba" (in this case, bellybutton) and I have to lift up my shirt for her to see it or she will lift it up for me or get agitated. The problem is this may arise outside. We shall see.

Tonight Estee got mad because I didn't let her do something she wanted to do so she bit me and then hit me. Besides saying no, what's the correct punishment for someone of that age. how much do they understand. To me, hitting back is hypocritical. "You can't hit me but I can hit you." I refuse to do it.

on another note Estee would like to wish everyone a wonderful sweet new year:

outside fun!

2006-09-11T16:48:00.000-09:00

I was outside with Estee and I decided to be a little silly and start kicking up my legs (can-can meets karate ninja?) she thought this was the funniest thing ever and kept trying to copy me which made me laugh hysterically and we were just giggling like crazy. I couldn't get her attempt at copying me on video but I got the cute giggle. It's not so clear because it was my camera phone.

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fun with a moon bounce!

2006-09-11T01:46:00.000-09:00

The trip

2006-09-06T15:21:00.000-09:00

What a blast we had! We started off the weekend in NJ at my Aunt and uncle's house. My cousins (except for the 14 year old) are close in Estee's age (approx 5 and 2)
She had a blast being in a big house that's child friendly with tons of toys and two other kids. She started off the weekend by taking a bath with her two cousins. (not posting pics of those but it was sooooo cute!) All she cared to do was play with the running water. Every time we tried to put some in a cup to wash someone's hair or turn it off, she cried or pushed our hands away. On Sunday morning we went to Sesame place. Every Character that we saw Estee would say "Abba" and then reach out her hands so they would take her. For the most part, I will let the pictures speak for themselves except for a couple of tidbits: We went on a ride where you sit in a hot air balloon and it goes up and around and around. If you choose to you can spin it more yourself too. (I told Aaron not to do this if he didn’t want me to puke all over everyone!)
I hated it but I guess Es loved it because when the ride stopped she started to cry hysterically. All the people waiting to get on must've thought she was scared but I reasurred them that she was upset that it was over. Our hotel room was only one room but there was a little alcv;e by the bathroom with a sink and a clothing rack. if you are in this alcove you cannot be seen from the area where Estee's crib was. Sunday night after Aaron and I put her to bed we hid out there so she wouldn't see us. We sat on the floor and had our picnic and cracked up as she talked to herself. It's as if she knew we were there because she kept throwing her pacis out of her crib so we would come and pick them up. When I finally told her "no no no!" she wagged her finger at me and laughed. On monday we went to a touch museum for children 7 and under which was also really great for her!

The pics:

packing for our trip, Estee helps!

Sesame place pics(I made them small so they wouldn't take up too much space but if you want to see the better, just click on them)

The touch museum:

What a great trip, I'm starved!

goodbye summer, goodbye stay-at-home mom!

2006-08-31T16:31:00.000-09:00

We are off to NJ for shabbos and then to Sesame place for Sunday/Monday. It is our last hurrah before I go back to school :(
I have become truly addicted to my child. I am going to have some serious seperation anxiety on Tuesday when I go back to work. In addition to the seperation anxiety, I am going to have just plain 'ol anxiety because I have a new babysitter starting...gulp!
My summer with Estee has truly been amazing. Although I did work for three weeks the rest of the time was absolutely wonderful. I tried to do as many things with her as possible but even when we weren't doing "something" our bonding was great. I have enjoyed singing with, and reading to her. I have enjoyed watching her new skills emerge: after my lead she can now hold the shape block correctly and put it into the correct hole if I have the correct one in front of her. I have enjoyed watching her language emerge (she sounds like boo from monster's inc and every time she says something I want to eat her up!) Her new words are Abba as you know for everything, up for up and maybe other things, not quite sure. "ide" for outside, "aaaab"(with a spit at the end to represent the "th") for bath. She may have even said "ite" today for light.
Remember new love? Remember when you had a crush on someone or were newly in love with someone, you would lie in bed at night content thinking about the time you spent together or the conversation you had that day? Every night of my summer has been concluded with that feeling of contentment and that feeling of love and joy towards my sweet Estee.
I have a feeling that monday night I will shower with her shampoo and body wash so that I can smell like her at work on monday, is that sick?
Good bye summer! Here are some moments of the summer that I will never forget:

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This post took me over an hour to do. I absolutely cannot put captions, I am tired! Just for this, I better get a lot of comments.
I think I reached my picture capacity and I can't post any more pictures, can that happen?

mommy's birth-day o' fun!

2006-08-27T10:43:00.000-09:00

When Aaron asked how I wanted to celebrate my birthday I said a nice day with my family. We were going to go to the queens farm but we got rained out. So instead we took some of Ezzie's advice and tried some yummy pretzels! Today was their grand opening so they had a guy making balloon animals which Es loved and a guy on the keyboard. Halfway through our snack Estee started to walk around as she always does . She walked over to the guy on the keyboard, went up to his speaker and just started to dance as he played. It was really funny. She enjoyed her pretzel and drinking my smoothie. We couldn't take it away or she'd cry!

We then went to the Queens Hall of Science which was a big hit as well. We spent our first hour in the preschool room where Estee crawled and climbed and went "grocery shopping" with other children. We then walked around the bigger part of the museum where she got to see her shadow, walk in a room that shrinks and best of all play with huge bubbles. It was really hard taking her away from that. If it weren't for her great need for a nap we would have stayed for the 2:30 puppet show!

Estee rides a horse! Well, a pony!

2006-08-23T15:12:00.000-09:00

I gave birth to a squirrel!

2006-08-21T05:58:00.000-09:00

Behavioural Attributes of Mammal: common, active and nocturnal year round
are "packrats" - collect, trade and hoard things, including smooth stones, feathers and shiny objects
stockpile food in den for winter months

Okay so it isn't completely her but the hoarding is, in a way. Estee has a few toys that she loves to play with. She has a car that makes noises and sings songs and that you can ride. It also has a hood that goes up and down and spaces for her to insert blocks. She has a little princess carriage that she can pull around and it stores legos. She also has a little picnic basket with fruits and veggies inside that make noise. And, a pocketbook with toy comb, cell, lipstick, purse and keys. Besides for all these lovely things that her toys hold, Estee also walks around with other items from around the apartment. sometimes they are her toys and sometimes they are grown up things like Aarons keys, a spatula, a camera, etc. Often I find said objects in the hood of her car, in her princess wagon, pocketbook or picnic basket. Aaron's keys went missing for a week. He went crazy looking for them. One day I was in the kitchen with Estee and she was playing with her usual untesil holder in one of our cabinets. When all of a sudden it tipped over and all the utensils fell out and out came Aaron's keys.
Another time, while she was sleeping I went to find a pot I haven't used in a while and mixed in with all my cooking supplies were a few benchers. I wonder how those got there. I have a potato masher on the floor of my bedroom, a straining spoon (which I never use) on the floor of the bathroom, and my digital camera in the hood of her car.

Nail salon horrors

2006-08-17T10:14:00.000-09:00

I decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take Estee into the nail place to get my eyebrows waxed. I figured: it only takes 5 minutes, she will be fine in her stroller. Well, as we all know my usual assumptions are never right now are they?
The three women that were working were all busy with other people so they asked me to wait. She started to get a bit figity so I figured I would take her out until it was my turn wherein I would put her back in. Upon lifting her up I smelled something not so good. There was no way I was going to make her stay in the stinky because I had a few more stops to make after the nail place. So, I lugged both her and her diaper bag into the nail salon's bathroom which is right next to the ladies getting their pedicures. As we all know, I can only change Estee while she is standing up. The bathroom was pretty small so I couldn't get down to her level and had to remain standing. When I bent over to start the process, I knocked over the lid to the garbage can sending it crashing down. While getting changed, Estee kept herself busy by opening and closing (slamming, rather!) the cabinet under the sink and taking out all of the rolls of toilet paper from inside. I can only imagine what our racket sounded like from the outside. Of course it was one of her messiest diapers in a while. Luckily, I had plenty of wipes! I guess I was taking a long time and of course making a lot of noise because when I had her almost dressed back up there was a knock on the door and a "Are you okay?" Great, now they think I am in here for me and not my child. How embaressing. As soon as I came out I rectified their thinking immediately. "Should I bring the dirty diaper to the garbage outside or do you want me to just throw it out in here?"

Hi little girlie

2006-08-16T06:35:00.000-09:00

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The funny thing is that when I uploaded this and was watching it on the computer, she heard me say "where's your tongue?" and did the same thing as the video

The little terror

2006-08-14T06:19:00.002-09:00

Yesterday was my father's 50th birthday party. Here is a picture of Estee there and then one of the three of us:

I put her into her pajamas when we left so that if she fell asleep we can just put her right in bed and if she didnt we could just put her to sleep without having to first change her. On the way home Aaron got a call from someone from our minyan saying they need a minyan. At first he said we are in the car but we were really close and were going to pass right by and although the car was filled with tons of stuff I told him to go and I'd take her in with as many things as I can. I got home and took in Estee, the diaper bag, my pocketbook, her bottle (yes i know, she is still having one) and the big bag of food. I got in and realized I had to put her bumper on because my father in law washed it for us. I just could not get the thing to lay right. I was going insane. Every time I tied, I had to untie, adjust and retie on a different pole. All the while Es was playing around her room. As it got more frustrating, she began to take more things apart. I had moved her crib and was now positioned behind it when she opened up her dresser drawer and proceeded to throw everything out, screetching with laughter. She left the room and I heard the bathroom door opening and closing. This is her new favorite pastime that I usually don't allow but under the circumstances thought it would be okay. After a few minutes I realized I no longer heard the door opening and closing and realized it was awfully quiet. "Estee," I called, "come here." I was about to go and see what she had gotten into when she walked into the room carrying the plunger. Which means she had to climb behind the garbage in the bathroom and crawl in the crevice between the toilet and the wall, where I hide it so she won't get to it because it is yucky. I was too caught up in the moment to grab the camera but believe me, it was hilarious. I grabbed it from her, returned it to it's spot and proceeded to scrub her hands with anti-bacterial soap. In the midst of scrubbing I noticed that not only did she have a dirty diaper but the entire contents of the bathroom garbage were now all over the bathroom floor. I scrubbed her hands a little harder...

I fought the desitin and the desitin won

2006-08-11T05:08:00.000-09:00

It looked as if I had been in a battle. Black is the best color to wear when you have kids, stains don't show right? wrong. My nice crisp black shirt was covered in white goopy desitin. Not in one place but several. I was walking down the street in a beautiful skirt, nice shoes, nice fall and a black shirt with white smears all over it. This is the story....
There was a nice block of time in which I was able to give Estee some sort of distraction whether it be a toy, a paper, a box, a bottle of shampoo, etc. to hold and easily lay her down to change her diaper. No more! No matter how distracted she is with the item, the second her head hits the changing table she rolls over. And, she is quite strong for a 13 month old. You'd think that being 24 years older than her and a lot more times her weight, I'd be able to hold her down. Pretty amazing strength she has, because it is not possible. But, that is really okay because I have perfected and mastered the art of changing, cleaning, desitining, and diapering her while standing. Obviously it took a while to get to this perfection, notice the aforementioned black shirt..But, I think I have got it down pat. There is a specific hold in which my left arm cradles her middle. Her head remains overlooking my shoulder and my other hand does all the work. So far so good. Taking off the diaper is easy. Wiping her has become a bit easy too even when it is messy. (yay mommy!) (well, except for yesterday when she decided to sit on my arm while I was wiping her messy messy #2, thanks Es you're the best!) The desitin was a bit troublesome at first until I got a technique down pat. Sunday for instance when I was wearing this said black shirt, I applied a nice amount of desitin and she began to squirm, wiggle, and of course, hug me- in a show to take her off of the changing area (which just so happened to be my mother's sink in her bathroom- oh yes, because I had no more wipes and had to make her her own personal bidet)) But now, I have found a way to glob the desitin in all the right places on the diaper and push the diaper into her and smoosh it into her with little or no mess. The trouble actually comes with putting the new diaper on. You see, she is not one to just stay put while I do it. Oh no! She must sit, squat, stand, and so on throughout the whole process. If the front of the diaper is not high enough or she moves ever so slightly as I am fastening the tabs, the whole process has to begin again, which of course gets desitin all over her legs. But I must say I am quite a wiz. Watching me attempt this feat will leave you in awe. It is a talent I never knew I had. And really it is a talent, just ask my father in law!

Can this possibly be behavioral?

2006-08-02T05:15:00.000-09:00

For a while nap time was a pleasure. I would feed Estee her meal, play, give her a bottle, read some books, put her in her crib, turn on her aquarium and she would go right to sleep for two hours. For the past week or so this has changed somewhat. I put Estee in and she puts her head right down as if she is going to sleep. Then out of no where she starts to play for about 10 minutes. Then, she starts to scream and cry. Why is she crying all of a sudden? She has a dirty diaper. Without fail every single time she cries after going in to her crib with no problem it is because she went to the bathroom. What the heck? This has become a daily routine for the morning nap and sometimes the afternoon one as well. Is it possible that this is an elaborate toddler stall tactic? Can she be that manipulative? If so, what on earth am I to do? I can't leave her with a dirty diaper for two hours, that's gross! Any ideas?

The "b" word

2006-08-01T10:50:00.000-09:00

I typed up a whole long post yesterday about Estee's talking and it got erased...phooey!
I'll try to sum it up:
A couple of weeks ago Estee started to say "abba" for real. She says other sounds like ma, da, na, pa but we knew this was a real word. Whenever she sees him or his picture she says "abba.." The other day she followed him into the kitchen and when he walked away from her she screetched "AAAAAAAAABBBBBBBAAA" Now there are other words she has been trying to say lately too. Whenever she sees Elmo in a book or somewhere else she points and says "A--bba" but with a slight "Eh" twinge to the A. When I came home the other day, she ran to me and said "A--bba"
Yesterday morning I was blowing bubbles with her and I was saying "bubbles, bubbles!" and she said "ba ba ba" She seems to say "ba ba" for every word with a b which is good. Here's the weird thing though...I noticed that when she wants me to pick her up she lifts her arms up and says "p p p" she must be trying to say up. But, when I am giving her a bath, and I want to wash the soap out of her eyes, I tell her "look up up up up up" and she repeats by saying "da da da da da"
speech therapists, any guesses on that one?
Today we were driving with Grandpa and she was turning her head around in her car seat (he was driving) and saying "A-bba" and I said "yeah, that's Grandpa"(over-enunciating it.) and she said "Appa" and kept saying it which was cool, yay Estee!

(Editor's note: I didn't write A-bba because it is a form of hashem's name or something like that, I did it to show how she pronounces it...)

I added some pictures of her that I thought were cute. There are a couple of her with a wicker basket that she was walking around holding and then tried to get inside.

who is who?

2006-07-25T11:16:00.000-09:00

I took these pictures a while ago but I was waiting for the original and I finally got it. The one I took is a reenactment. So...which one is Estee? Who is the other baby??

(btw, the man is the same in both pics. Only the baby is different!)

Help!

2006-07-23T04:08:00.000-09:00

I am having much difficulty weaning Estee off of her bottle and on to a sippy cup. The funny thing is, she has been drinking out of a sippy cup for months. But for some reason the minute she tastes the milk she doesn't want to drink it. Is there a method? I didn't have to wean her off of nursing, she kinda just stopped when she was ready, so I am not familiar with the process. The problem is, 30 minutes or so before her scheduled naps I give her the sippy cup with milk. She takes a sip or two here and there but won't have anymore. Then, I put her in her crib and she talks to herself but I guess suddenly realizes this is business and begins to scream and cry. I think I got her into a bad habit because I then take her out and give it to her in a bottle. I am sure this is wrong but if she is hungry or thirsty am I supposed to deprive her?

On a similar note, the Dr. said that when we finish our supply of formula we can give her whole milk. She had her last bottle this morning and I figured, goody! I will give her milk in her sippy cup and it will be fine because she won't ever know it in a bottle and that is how I will wean her. Either that didn't work or she doesn't like milk because she made a face and didn't drink it from the bottle either. I think she just finally fell asleep so maybe she wasn't hungry at all?
I don't know! HELP!

Happy Birthday to my little girlie!

2006-07-10T11:20:00.000-09:00

Her birthday was shabbos and her party was yesterday. It was a cookie monster themed pool party. The kids had a blast!

Happy July 4th from Estee!

2006-07-04T15:56:00.000-09:00

Estee's dance moves

2006-07-03T18:59:00.000-09:00

Estee can really move, check out her funky grooves!

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Mother daughter bonding part 2

2006-06-29T15:57:00.000-09:00

We had another exciting day today. We started our walk at national wholesale liquidators clothing store. I found out later that my little girl stole something!! I have to go and return it tommorow. She must've pulled it off the shelf because I didn't see. We then went to petland discounts where Estee enjoyed watching the fish in the aquariums. You see? You can do fun things for free! She had a blast she was touching the tank and trying to grab the fish and was laughing hysterically the whole time. We then went to the park. For some reason Estee is terrified of the swings. I put her in and held her hands and rocked her in it but she was still afraid. I really don't understand why. For half her life she was in an infant swing...why the sudden fear? The park has sprinklers set up and she really liked touching and watching the water. Every so often I ran through it with her and screamed weeeeeee which she really loved. The only problem was, I didn't think to put her shoes on so she couldn't run through it herself. On the way home from the park, we met a huge dog. I wouldn't let the owner get too close but Estee thought the dog was the funniest thing. The dog was scared of her and kept barking and every time the dog barked, Estee cracked up. We came home and I was famished so I grabbed a peach. Of course any time I am eating something Estee needs to try it too. So, I bit off the skin and in between bites I let her suck on the fruit part. The cutest thing is that she noticed we were taking turns and started to push it towards my mouth after she had her turn as if to say "it's your turn now mommy..."

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Dillema of the day: keeping her scalp sunburn free. She rips off her hat every chance she gets so I rubbed sunblock into her scalp which in turn made her hair really greasy. Any suggestions?

our sears portraits

2006-06-28T15:10:00.000-09:00

Mother daughter bonding

2006-06-27T16:04:00.000-09:00

Today was my first day off from work and I had planned all these wonderful things for me and Estee to do together over my vacation. Some things include: botanical gardens, the zoo, carousel, picnics, etc.
Well, this morning she completely threw off her schedule so all those ideas went pretty much out the window. She woke up at 5:30 but had a bottle and went back to bed until 8:30 wiping out her morning nap completely. Because of this, I didn't know when she would want her afternoon nap and didn't really want to go that far from home. We did get to walk all around kew garden hills though. I decided to take her to the playground but on the way she started to get cranky. We headed home but she didn't want to nap so I went back outside with her and we had a picnic on our front lawn. We had a blast. She was crawling around on the grass and getting all dirty and she kept coming and giving me hugs and getting me all dirty. We played catch and I must say my little almost 1 year old can really catch a ball!! We sat outside for over an hour at which point I gave her a bath pronto!
We ended our day by having a dance party to some old school techno...remember that song blue? I found the cd (summer of 99 dance) and popped it in and we danced and danced. We had a blast. Sadly, when it was time for Estee to go to sleep she kept pointing to the stereo and saying "uh uh uh" to tell us she wanted something. When she didn't get her point across, she continued to point to the stereo and started to dance a little. This was her way of telling us that she wanted music to be put on so that we can dance again. The poor kid started screaming and crying so badly when I took her into her room and began her bed time routine. It was so upsetting, but all she wanted was to dance. She fell asleep almost immediately after I put her in. oysh what a temper. I am so excited to spend more time with my little girl, we had so much fun today!
(this first picture is of me spinning her around in circles, it was quite hard to take that picture!!)

new pictures, new camera

2006-06-26T14:53:00.000-09:00

I just wanted to share some of the pictures I took with my new camera:

Estee's soap problem part 2

2006-06-22T14:33:00.000-09:00

I let Estee stand on the side of the bath tub as I fill it up. Tonight I was cleaning her bath first and when I turned around this is what I found. I can't leave her alone for a second! Do you think it's toxic?

my walking baby

2006-06-20T01:51:00.000-09:00

she's got a sense of humor!

2006-06-15T10:41:00.000-09:00

some funny things Estee has been doing lately:

1. My ashthma has been really bad the past few days so I have been coughing a lot. Starting yesterday, every time I cough, she fake coughs and then looks at me with a huge grin on her face like haha I'm making fun of you!

2. Estee's bedtime routine is as follows: she bathes, has a bottle, then we read some books and then I sing shema, beshaim hashem, and hamalach hagoel to her. If it's shabbos or yom tov I throw in an appropriate tune. Estee has also been throwing together a lot of sounds lately. So, while I was singing to her she decided to do her own rendition of the songs by saying ma na da fa ba s and sh in different orders to her own melody. It was very hard for me to keep singing without laughing but I did my best. When I reached the high notes of the songs she belted out her own high pitched "ahhhhhhh." Music to my ears!

3. Estee has a new way of telling me that she no longer wants to drink or eat what she is holding. Rather than just refusing the food or sippy cup, she flings it across the room. And then just in case I was thinking of being serious and angry at the action she bursts out with a huge smile that forces me to hold in my own. Lately I have been trying to be quite firm with her and saying "no! we do not throw things on the floor." Because it was funny with the sippy cup but not so funny with the cream cheese on challah that fell face down (of course) onto the floor. Usually right before she drops something she holds it over the side of her highchair and looks at me with a mischevious look saying "look what I'm going to do, try to stop me!" Yesterday though, as she did this I gave her a look that said "don't you dare!" so she took the cup and handed it to me instead. I gave her a big cheer for good listening!!!

4. Estee's play skills are definitely emerging: As you can see in the above picture, her new favorite game is to open her dresser drawer, take something out, fling it across the room, close the drawer, then open it again, take something else out, etc.

5. first word alert: the past few days Estee has been saying AAAAAAABAAA (over enunciating it like I do) The other day when I said grandpa she said apa and she did this a few times so it had to be real. if she doesn't want food she will push my hand away and say na na na (definitely saying no)
she can point to her toes when asked, the light, and trees. oh and mommy's knees. But only mommy's.

help me please

2006-06-14T11:59:00.000-09:00

can you believe that Estee is almost a year old??!!
I am trying to plan her first birthday and I feel like it's her bat mitzvah for goodness sakes.....
But, my real dillema is Estee loves cookie monster. I desperately want to make that the theme but all party supplies are either sesame street or just elmo. Cookie monster does not exist alone. If someone can find me cookie monster party things (not counting balloons or cake toppers- I found those) you will be a winner!

Fun fun fun!

2006-06-06T16:56:00.000-09:00

Estee eats challah with cream cheese by herself. Needless to say she wears most of it. She then has fun dancing to the music!:

big girl shoes for big girl feet!

2006-06-04T11:00:00.000-09:00

We took Estee to get her first real pair of shoes today. She sat in the little chair and had her feet measured and everything. She looked like a little queen in the chair but I couldn't get the camera out in time.
Don't you want to know why we got her new shoes? She's walking! Hooray for Estee!
Last week she took 1-3 steps without holding on here and there but yesterday and this morning she took more! Because of her new walking skill she began to crawl like a spider. Instead of crawling on her knees she gets up on her feet but has her hands down, so she's half crawling and half walking, it's so funny!
The above picture is her walking to me this morning.

Not a very good punishment

2006-05-30T16:31:00.000-09:00

When Estee is a teenager I will definitely be paid back for the way I treated my parents when I was a teenager. Not that I was so bad but I got pretty fresh at times. When Estee turns to me and says something nasty or uses language that is inappropriate (hopefully she won't but ya never know!)I can't even threaten her with washing her mouth out with soap, the classic punishment for that particular crime. Why, you ask? Well with Estee that would be like saying "If you use that tone of voice with me one more time young lady I am going to wash your mouth out with candy." You see, Estee likes the taste of soap. It's quite strange actually. It's very hard to get her to eat a proper meal half the time, but soap, no problem, she'd devour it if she could. I mentioned a few posts ago that we use dove bar soap to clean Estee now. I also mentioned that she likes to play with it. Well, our cute little game is that she takes it out of my hand and it slips out of her hands and I say "plop" and she tries to say "plop" and laughs. Every so often she gets a good grip on the soap and I can tell she purposely drops it into the water so that I will say plop. It's actually pretty funny. But, usually when she does have a good grip on the soap she puts it straight into her mouth. The first time she did this I figured she would just make that yucky face she makes every time she tries a new food. But, she didn't. She just kept right on sucking! I let her play by the bathtub while I'm filling it up and the first thing she goes for is the soap. When that slips into the tub, she goes for the shampoo, that will be the next snack!
Which reminds me, isn't johnson and johnson baby shampoo called "no more tears?" why is that? Because it doesn't burn and cause babies to tear and cry? Yeah, well, it does! My poor child screamed in pain last night when the shampoo dripped into her eyes.
Hey, that reminds me of one more thing (yeah yeah, off on tangents again) I now not only can't change her diaper without holding her standing with one hand, I also can't wash shampoo out of her hair. I try everything! She rips the visor right off, she won't let me lean her back without twisting and squirming. I used to be able to make her look up at me or something and then pour water over her head but now the second I pour the water over her head she leans her head back down and everything goes in her face causing her eyes to burn and for her to cry and gasp for air. What the heck am I supposed to do? I've gotta wash her hair!! You think I should let her chew on the soap while the visor is on her head to distract her?
(you see, I connected my tangents, not so bad after all!)

pooped and pooped on

2006-05-18T15:40:00.000-09:00

After not posting for a little bit I have many little stories to tell. I could tell you about the diaper change I had a few hours ago in which I could not for the life of me get her to lay down but of course she begins to move around with her dirty diaper open. I could tell you about how cute my first mother's day was and how I made everyone little posters with her picture, her hand print and a poem that read: My dirty little handprint
I've left on every wall
And on the drawers and tabletops
I've really marked them all
But here is one that won't rub off
I'm giving it to you
Because I am so thankful
For a (mother/father/gran) just like you!
I could tell you about all the cute things she has been doing lately- getting her groove on to music, it's really funny, trying to walk, or the funny faces she makes. I could tell you about the drama that unfolded at 9 o clock last night when I found out that my good friend who's babysitter is my babysitter's good friend, was nanny cammed and they fired her based on what they saw. (My babysitter was there too but it's all worked out now...) But alas, I am just too pooped! I had a really long and tiring week (Estee has been waking up between 4:30- 5:30 every day for the day)
So instead I will sum it all up with: I Love my little baby girlie so much I could just eat her! Enjoy these pictures. Sometimes maybe pictures speak louder than words?
ps yes, that is my face she is attacking!

This is the way we brush our teeth so early in the morning

2006-05-12T13:01:00.000-09:00

some more funny stories with pictures

2006-05-10T15:06:00.000-09:00

I apologize for earlier stating that there would be two stories. I wrote one and then Estee woke up and I had to stop. So now I will write the other story plus another few tidbits. (just make sure you scroll down to read the first story...)

Yesterday Estee was playing with one of her favorite toys: Chicken dance elmo!!
The battery has been going for quite some time so every so often while the song is playing it will get a little slower and kind of fizzle out. Last night after playing it a few times and dancing along with him, it lost all sound completely. Elmo kept on dancing but he was no longer singing. But then, he became possessed. He just kept going and going...kinda like the energizer bunny. He kept on going and went right under the dining room table. Estee chased him and chased him. Under chairs, past the legs, all the way to the other side of the table and back until he finally stopped. It was weird...

The other night in the bathtub while I was washing Estee with her soap (we now use dove) she kept trying to take it from me. I finally let her try and every time she would grab it, it would slip out of her hands. She thought this was the funniest thing in the world. Her laughter was so cute, it was the real belly laugh. Tonight she actually got a grip on the soap and of course, put it straight into her mouth, yuck!

some funny stories with pictures

2006-05-10T02:22:00.000-09:00

I have two stories with pictures to tell so be sure to scroll down to the next post to read the second one. Estee was cracking me up tonight but of course the extra videos for the video camera were no where to be found!!
I was cooking some chicken for dinner and I knew the second I stuck my hands into the salmanella, ecoli filled raw chicken she would request to be held. She was already following me around my kitchen- which isn't so hard being that it's a closet. I saw her checking out a tea kettle we used to use that is shaped like a cow. I took it out and placed it on the floor. Not only was she thrilled to play with it but she continued to play with it long after I finished cooking the chicken. She then decided it would be a good thing to use as a crutch to help her stand. She then proceeded to push the teapot across the kitchen while she walked/glided along. It was like her own makeshift walker. It was hilarious. I tried to get as many pictures but the second the picture would snap, she'd sit down.

sensory experience

2006-05-01T15:53:00.000-09:00

Earlier this evening, Estee closed her finger in her dresser cabinet. To relieve her pain, I ran her finger under cold water. She had a blast as usual playing with the water so I had a brilliant idea. I took a huge bowl, filled it with water and sat her on a towel with the bowl on the floor in the living room. The bowl filled with water was a bit heavy for me to carry so I figured I was safe. She had so much fun splashing around when all of a sudden she took the entire bowl and dumped it upside down. There was water everywhere (of course I was still taking pictures!) She was soaking which is why she's wearing the robe.
(I wanted to put captions under the picture of her on the phone saying "hello? can you hear me? I made a mess, come quick! but for some reason when putting pictures in my blog it comes up as href= stuff rather than the actual picture....)

gymboree, potato kugel and other fun stuff

2006-04-30T15:27:00.000-09:00

This shabbos Estee tried potato kugel for the first time. Yum! She was so excited. She was smacking her lips together, saying mmmmm and da da da. The only problem is, it's all she wants to eat now! Well, that's not entirely true but I'm down to the last piece and she won't have any till shabbos, you think she'll notice?

Last night when I was giving her a bath I didn't realize the shower was set on shower and not bath and when I turned it on it sprayed us both. She got so excited that I realized that this would be a fun game. I turned on the shower and let her play. She was screaming and flapping her arms like this was the coolest thing she has ever seen!

Today I was finally able to take Estee to her first Gymboree class. Wow, was I right. This is the perfect class for her. She is not 10 months yet so being that the class is 10-16 months she is one of the younger ones in the class and yet she was one of the only babies not crying. Not only that, she jumped right in to do the activities. They sat her on a ball and rolled in back and forth while singing a song. Then they put her tummy down on a big tube and sang a different song. She was having a blast. They do a half an hour of gym like things and then 15 minutes of circle time/parachute/singing. She went crazy when they started to blow the bubbles. The only problem is she keeps attacking the other children! I know she doesn't mean to hurt them, she just really likes faces. She kept grabbing at the other children's faces and pulling their hair. I kept having to grab her and scream "no." My child, the little bully.
but, overall it was so much fun she was laughing the entire time. The pictures aren't too great. It was hard to capture all the fun things because we were too caught up in the moments.

little tidbits...

2006-04-24T15:41:00.000-09:00

Estee has become quite a terror. She gets into everything! It's funny in a small way but at the same time, it isn't. Check out the pictures below of her going through my dresser drawers and taking everything out of them!

Her first tooth is finally peeking through!!! yay! it's so cute although I will really miss that gummy smile (also see below) Even though that tooth is through, another one is coming in right next to it and it hurts her a lot. I bought her one of those mesh teether things that you put frozen fruit in and she can chew on it.

While I was buying her things, I bought her a visor she can wear in the bathtub so the water and soap won't go in her eyes. Lately, along the same lines as the diaper changing thing, she will scream if I lean her back to wash her hair. So, everything just ended up dripping in her face. Look how cute she looks in the visor!

In addition, just check out some more pictures of how she gets into EVERYTHING!!!

maybe toilet training an infant isn't such a bad idea after all?

2006-04-21T09:57:00.000-09:00

I have officially lost my mind. Changing Estee's diaper has become even more of a wrestling match. It is often not even possible to change her on the changing table because she attempts to crawl off of it. Although I have mastered changing her backwards, standing up, and while holding one leg tight so she doesn't take a dive, I have not yet mastered the art of changing a moving baby.
Over Yom tov, being that we were at the grandparent's, changing had to be done on the floor since there was no table available. Of course, the floor has a wider surface area for crawling, standing, sitting and rolling. If she stood long enough attending to an activity, I was able to change her standing up. Unfortunately, at the precise moment I slathered her with desitin, she decided to sit and take off. There were many incidents that occurred as a result of this:
1. Erev Yom tov she was flat on her back and I was changing her. The second the diaper came off, she rolled away and stood up by my stepmother's coffee table. Before we could even blink, she peed all over the carpet. I have to say that although my stepmother wasn't so happy about the pee on her carpet, it still left my father, Aaron and I laughing. It was inevitable that that would happen.
2. Being that I was unable to give Estee any of her usual cereal and that she gagged and vomited over the pesach concoction, my brother (smart guy that he is) mixed up matzah meal and water. She really enjoyed this. Only problem is- it constipated her beyond belief. The poor kid cried every time she went to the bathroom and she literally had boulders coming out of her. (dropping a diaper into the garbage I heard a clink) This made for much easier on the go changing but did not stop the boulders from making their way on to the floor quite often.
3. To celebrate my grandfather's 75th birthday, my entire family went out to my most favorite dessert company (another story, another day.) For some reason the owners of the restaurant did not take babies into consideration when constructing their bathroom and did not include a changing station in their plans. The old Estee would have been easy to change in the little section in between the two sinks. Not the new Estee. Rolling around in between two sinks on a granite counter, not only is not very sanitary but is also not very safe. The first time she needed to be changed she was so enthralled by the stainless steel faucets that she stayed on her back for most of the changing. The second change wasn't so easy, and the third change required me to hold her in a standing position while my aunt got her changed.
4. I guess my mother's house has many exciting things for Estee to explore because the whole time we were there it took me a very long time to get her changed. There was a point in which I was simply able to give Estee a toy to keep her busy and then quickly put her on her back and change her while she was playing. NOT ANYMORE! The second she sees her diaper or her changing mat, she bolts! The second I took her diaper off, she began to crawl away. One particular time I chased her into the kitchen. As she stood gazing at her reflection in my mother's oven, I began to lather on the desitin, with her diaper right under her. Of course, the second I was about to close up the diaper, she crawled away. There was desitin all over me, all over the floor, all over the oven and all over her. I did finally get the diaper on but sheesh, I dread changing her diapers now. Not to mention the fact that when I do have her on her back she twists her body and screams as if she is being beaten (G-d forbid) Keeping her on her back requires a second person to hold her down otherwise she squirms her way out of the hold. Is this ever going to stop?

On the road to the five towns part deux

2006-04-05T15:46:00.000-09:00

This time as opposed to last Estee was with me. My grandparents are back from Florida and I have been trying for a few days to get over there to visit them. I called my babysitter on the way home from work to ask if she had napped yet. She said yes. I asked if she could get her and a diaper bag ready so I could leave with her right when I get home. Since my babysitter stayed a little extra to help me get her to the car, I drove her to the car. As we were driving I asked, when did she last eat? She said "at 2:30 I gave her a little bit of bottle but she didn't really want any." uh oh. I asked "So, will she be hungry soon?" She assured me that she would be good until 4:30 (it was 3:45)
On the van wyck she started to cry. Luckily I have the mirror by her that allows me to see her in the rearview mirror and I was able to reach back and put her pacifier in her mouth. I did this twice but it kept falling out and she kept getting upset. By the time I reached Rockaway tpke she was screaming. I was not quite sure what to do. She must be hungry I thought. Okay. Super mommy time. I reached into her diaper bag, got out a bottle and pulled a gumby by reaching back and sticking the bottle in her mouth. Alas, she was happy and gulping down the bottle like there was no tommorow. Of course, I couldn't just stop in the middle of Rockaway Tpke. I proceeded to drive with one hand on the wheel and my arm twisted in a painful way behind me feeding her a bottle. I must say I am pretty talented.
She seemed to also be drifting off but when we got there she became wide awake and happily played with my grandparents who haven't seen her since early November.
She of course performed very well. I was happy because I got to enjoy a nice home cooked meal made by bubby while my grandfather sang her his classic yaydidi day song. (It has been sung to each baby in the family through the generations. Immensely enjoyed by the baby, not by anybody else due to his being tone deaf)
When it was time to go she got beside herself with exaustion. She was extremely cranky. I put her down for a minute to pack up her diaper bag and she began to climb up my legs. Before I knew it, she fell flat on her face. Ipicked her up to soothe her and I gave her her pacifier as well. When the pacifier fell out of her mouth it was covered in blood. It's funny my very nervous grandmother kept me calm and got her ice to chew on. Never a dull moment. Needless to say she fell asleep in the car before we even turned the corner.

And the trouble making has begun....

2006-03-30T02:22:00.000-10:00

Rebecca- Dr jeckel or Mr. Hyde?

2006-03-26T15:22:00.000-10:00

When Estee was sick I spoiled her big time. She woke up every hour or so and I went to her and held her if that is what she needed. Not only do we now have the vomiting issue but our problem has now intensified. Last week I was an absolute zombie. She not only woke up every hour or so, it took her a long time to fall back asleep. Thursday night I decided to let her cry. 20 minutes into it Aaron with his head under his pillow trying to sleep through it, told me I should probably go and get her. So, that was ruined.
Last night I finally couldn't take it anymore. I tried rubbing her back but she kept waking up so at 11:30 I sat in the living room with Aaron and just dealt with it. Every time I thought she was stopping it seemed as if she just needed a little break and just started right back up again. After a half an hour I turned into a crazy person. I knew I couldn't go to her, but I couldn't take her screaming. It was heartbreaking. I was crying, apologizing to her over and over, punching the chair, and then badly enough, cursing out my husband. It was almost like labor all over again, only I didn't really curse him out then. It finally ended after a total of 50 minutes. I can't believe I stayed strong. I apologized to Aaron for everything I said and went to bed. She didn't wake up until 7:30 am. whew. If she does that again tonight, I will have to be committed.

You think it's time to sign up for gymboree?

2006-03-19T15:38:00.000-10:00

Happy Purim!!

2006-03-15T16:59:00.001-10:00

Happy

2006-03-15T16:59:00.000-10:00

I'd rather be sick as a dog

2006-03-12T17:29:00.000-10:00

If I could just trade with Estee and make myself sick I would. I absolutely cannot take this anymore. Right now I am sitting in front of the computer with her scrunched up in my arms, my arms around her and the keyboard on my knees (hmmm...lets see if I can get a picture...) The poor kid. From 4:30 until now I have not been able to really get her to smile. In exchange I keep crying because I hate seeing her like this. Her nose is running, she is so congested she can't eat and every time she coughs she vomits what she has eaten. If I so much as bring the aspirator within 10 feet of her she twists her head around or throws it back screaming bloody murder, until of course, I am crying too. I have concluded that I do not want her to be sick ever ever again.

slumped--

2006-03-12T10:34:00.000-10:00

I know it's been quite a while. I used to post much more often. But, between the gimpy husband, the messy apartment, regular responsibilities being doubled, the job, the baby, and the fact that I was sick all of last week, it's been a bit hard. Estee has been getting cuter and cuter each day though. She now is an expert stander and wants to do it at every opportunity. She also has become a bit of a speed crawler and I am getting major anxiety about baby proofing. Aaron keeps waving his hand at me but it needs to get done. HELP!
To top of the week last night as I was getting Estee changed, her skin felt extremely hot. I took her temperature and she had 101.8 woosh. Was she going to tell me? Over the night though it got worse and her sniffles turned into coughing and sneezing. I have to say that considering this is her first time having fever, I behaved myself quite well. I wasn't a barrel of nerves! go me! We went to the doctor this morning and she put me and my big baby brother to shame. You see Robert (that's one of my bros) and I are not only quite prone to strept throat but also are huge babies when it comes to getting cultures. (him more so than me) Well, Estee was a perfect angel for her culture. She didn't even cry! She just gagged a little afterwards. She made the doctor laugh because she kept sucking on his tongue depressor. She was flirting with him big time. She loves her doctor. The end result is no infections- phew! I hope we make it for purim because she has a cute costume and I would love to show her off!! Of course, if we don't make it I will still dress her up and take pictures, it is her first purim after all!

update on the standing thing

2006-03-05T13:08:00.000-10:00

She can now get down by falling, so we have made progress. She has also officially started crawling. She didn't really creep much. All she did was roll fast from one side of the room to another or creep around in a circle (kinda like a dog chasing it's tail).
Well, the other night when the crawling started, she literally got into everything. She crawled over to the little bookcase I keep by the kitchen with all my cookbooks, pulled out one entitled cakes and cookies and started to eat the pages.
Now, all she wants to do is stand crawl or a combination of both- climb! If she is sleeping in her crib and wakes up the first thing she does is get on her knees or climb to a standing position and cry. On her changing table she now tries to crawl off, and when she is on the floor and I am sitting with her she crawls over to me and proceeds to climb up my body. She usually gets as far as my chest.

Finally, a little off the topic but check out this link. Remind you of anyone you know?

Photo op?

2006-03-02T02:40:00.000-10:00

Since I went back to work (after vacation) I have been trying to undo all the spoiling I did to Estee while she was sick. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I have been letting her cry. I must say (bli ayin hora) it has worked! Last night she slept 8 hours straight! Two nights ago though, at 2 am she was crying and crying. I thought to myself, either something is wrong or she is hungry. I went into her to find her standing in her crib and crying because she couldn't get down. This put me in a very difficult bind. I had a crying child in front of me but one who was in the middle of a milestone. I ran into the bedroom quickly to get the camera, snapped a picture of her then immediately picked her up. So now, I have a picture of her standing but she is crying too. Am I a terrible mom?
It took over two hours to get her back to bed because if she wasn't asleep when I put her back in her crib, she would stand back up and start crying again.
Am I supposed to remove her bumpers now?
Am I supposed to continue to let her cry in the middle of the night? What if she falls when she is standing?

When it rains it pours

2006-02-23T12:50:00.000-10:00

<-----Atleast someone is having a good vacation!!!

I haven't really been able to write much because it has been a very crazy week. Aaron's been home recovering from his surgery and since we were supposed to go to Florida, I gave my babysitter the week off. Since Estee's bedtime vomiting became more frequent (it started off every so often because of crying herself to sleep and turned into every day from no crying at all) I decided to take her to the pediatritian. Since her appointment coincided with her naptime I decided to walk The 15 blocks. It was actually a really nice walk and she was in a really cute mood in the waiting room. Because she has a splotchy rash on her arms, legs and back (which initially was thought to be dry skin) and because of her vomiting, her pediatriatian reffered her to see an allergist. I felt so defeated from this news. One of the main reasons (besides for the fact that it is just healthier) that I nursed and was so persistant eventhough it was difficult, was because it has been found that nursing babies can prevent them from having allergies. I have terrible seasonal allergies and asthma and I did not want this for my child. Upon hearing that she may have food allergies I was just so upset. The next day not only did I have to take her to the allergist but her little sniffles turned into her first real full blown cold. It could not have come at a better time. The poor child is
so congested that when she cries, she is hoarse. It is so sad. Leaving for the allergist was diificult because she was a bit cranky and was fighting with me to get into her car seat. I finally got her into the car, sat in the front seat and went to start the engine.....and....sputter sputter, it was dead! Thank G-d for my stepfather who came and drove us to the appointment and jump started it while we were with the dr. Estee got 8 pricks in each arm to test her for 16 different foods in all. oysh. I did not expect her to get any needles. I was NOT prepared for that!!! In the end, she isn't allergic to any foods although there were a couple that were borderline. The Dr. gave us a list of things to do, each thing on this list will be tried if the item on the list before it doesn't work and we are to see her again in a month. Our pediatritian will see her again on Monday and if the allergy thing doesn't pan out, she will send her to a gastro. oy, my poor baby. To top it all off, between the fact that she is sick and the fact that I am afraid she will vomit, she now can no longer fall asleep without being in my arms. We have moved from waking up once a night to waking up a few times and I am slowly losing my mind!
In addition, changing Estee's diaper or getting her dressed has become a full blown wrestling match. I have tried every technique and hold possible. She cannot be distracted. She takes whatever toy I am distracting her with and flips over with it. She throws her head back and twists her body and screams if I try to flip her back. Most of the time this is happening with a dirty diaper in the way. The only thing that seems to distract her temporarily is this silly little doll that I got for Aaron as a get well present. It is a lion that dances and sings "You're my soul, you're my inspiration, You're all I've got to get me by...." But even that seems to have stopped working. This morning I may have finally found my answer. I have officially mastered putting on her diaper and clothing backwards. Twice today I have put her diaper on backwards and it was a success! No leaks! I only hope she was fully clean. I don't know how much more I can take of this!!

Can a 7 month old be a brat?

2006-02-19T08:49:00.000-10:00

Estee has two new games that she plays. The first one is that every time I try to change her diaper or get her dressed she flips over onto her belly and tries to crawl away. The other day she attempted to take a dive from her changing table. Luckily I had her leg and was able to pull her right back up. Last night it was absolutely impossible to change her. She had a very dirty diaper and she kept flipping over. I did everything to distract her but it didn't work and lets just say her changing table and her clothing were pretty messy. The other thing she continues to do is vomit. Now I don't know how much of it is intentional but it is not fun. She used to cry so much that she would vomit. Now, she cries for a split second and vomits. Yesterday she vomited without even crying. What am I going to do with this child?

my famous family

2006-02-13T15:08:00.000-10:00

when I clicked on these links I realized that I put the wrong ones...check out the right ones. It's mi familia on cbs 2!!!

how exciting!!!

Estee

and

Aaron

Blizzard of '06

2006-02-12T09:01:00.000-10:00

Since it is too cold outside and since the snow is higher than Estee is tall, I brought some snow inside for her on a plate. I'm not quite sure she liked that it was so cold...she did like the texture though...

See more blizzard pics on my other blog

my little sheitel friend

2006-02-07T11:04:00.000-10:00

Yesterday morning I was holding Estee in my bedroom while I was doing something. It just so happens that I was standing with her right next to my dresser and on top of my dresser are my sheitels on styrofoam heads. She began to animately talk to one of them as if it was a person. It was absolutely hilarious. I am not quite sure if she thinks it is just a person or if she is connecting it to me somehow but either way, it was quite funny to watch. Later on in the evening, I was once again holding her in the bedroom. When I finished what I was doing, I walked out and found Aaron pointing and laughing hysterically. I looked at Estee and she was holding my sheitel and laughing. She must have decided to pull it's hair as she often does with people and since it wasn't attached, it came off. I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Independant woman!

2006-02-05T17:19:00.000-10:00

Today while feeding Estee lunch she was getting very agitated. The only way we were able to get her to eat her food was by giving her the spoon with food on it and allowing her to play with it/suck it off. After a while I was able to stick another spoon with food in there and feed her but boy was she a mess!!

The birthday party

2006-01-31T05:31:00.000-10:00

We have had quite a few birthday parties lately. But this past one was the best for Estee because she is old enough to really interact with the other kids. Take a look at some of these pictures from the day:

In the car on the way to the party

<---
my pretty party dress

<---Sitting up all by myself!

birthday boy Simcha gives me a horsey ride!

me and Simcha playing so nicely

My party favor: cool shades! Ps-My Aunt Karen says I look like my mommy in this picture! Mommy is so happy!!!

Things that make you go uch....

2006-01-30T02:02:00.000-10:00

warning: Poop post

I have always had a big problem with poop. No matter who the kid was that I was babysitting for when it came time to change thte dirty diaper I would always gag. In school whenever a child had a dirty diaper I would always look over at my assistant hopefully. She would always understood my gagging problem and would go change the kid.So, it was my relief to discover that when it came to Estee, although at times very smelly, my gag reflex stayed in check. Phew, it wouldn't be so great gagging over my own daughters diapers. I have to outgrow this sometime. Of course this was going great until...last night:
It was time for Estee's bath. Since we finally lowered Estee's crib Aaron said that while I bathe her he will set up her fisher price aquarium in her crib. So, luckily for me he was in the room. I took off her clothes and noticed a little leaked. This is going to be a messy one I thought. That was definitely an understatement! It was not only messy but so pungent I thought I was going to pass out. Just picture this scene for a moment. You have squirmy little Estee kicking around and moving her arms all over, Squimish mommy trying to keep her diaper closed so she doesn't stick her body parts in it, trying to clean up everything that already got on the changing table, screaming how bad it smells in between gagging and heaving. Then there is Aaron off to the side laughing hysterically. The poor kid was probably wondering what the heck is wrong with my parents. I asked Aaron to hold her hands so I could clean her without her sticking her hand into it. She was not to thrilled at this and she began to cry. So now we had the whole scene above in addition to a crying baby. Thank goodness I didn't vomit because then we would have had two stains on her carpet!

Enjoying life's simple pleasures

2006-01-27T10:15:00.000-10:00

Sometimes we do things that we will regret doing later, just so we can have instant gratification. Sometimes it is a simple act like eating a piece of cake while on a diet. And, sometimes it is a more complex act like making a statement or confession that can change our lives. Besides for resisting good food of course, I'd say the hardest impulse that I have had to control lately is running to and comforting a crying Estee in the middle of the night or at bedtime. Last night though, I succumbed to the impulse. I gave in and enjoyed my guilty little pleasure. It was 2 am, I had just been woken from a deep sleep and a great dream by horrendous cries. She needed the comfort and so did I, so we just cuddled together on the couch until she was sleeping and I almost was. This really isn't a normal middle of the night habit for me, I was just getting a really big craving that I just could not control at that moment. I know that tonight I may regret it but I was living in the moment and I didn't really care about the consequences. Although I don't make a habit of this at night, every once in a while I allow myself a naptime cuddle. No harm in that I figure. The other day our cuddle was so great that I found myself becoming more addicted to it. But, I will try to be strong. This particular cuddle session was one of the most beautiful motherhood experiences (aside from the obvious-giving birth) I have ever had. I was laying in bed, she was on top of me with one hand around my waist and the other taking turns between rubbing my mouth and rubbing my arm. I had one arm snuggly around her and the other was rubbing her back and her legs. Her cute little face was nestled into my neck and I could feel her breath coming out of her nose and it tickled. Our hearts were adjacent to eachother and beating together in a beautiful rhythm. It was truly two hearts beating as one. I was filled with such euphoria and couldn't help but get all warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes, it's just worth the consequences....

The evolution of children's songs

2006-01-25T12:28:00.000-10:00

So many things have changed since I was a kid. We have now entered a politcally correct society where everyone is suing everyone and anything we say can and will be held against us, always. When I was a kid we were innocent. Today, kids know much much more. It's pretty scary.
Let's take the wheels on the bus for example. For the most part the song has stayed the same. There is only one minor difference. When I was a child, the song sang: The Mommy on the bus says "shh shh shh..etc" (after baby cries) The daddy on the bus reads his newspaper...etc.
One can interpret from this that the mother is the sole caregiver and the father just sits back and reads his newspaper right? Well, today the song goes: The Mommy on the bus says "I love you...etc." The Daddy on the bus says "love you too...etc."
Now, in this particular variation Mommy and Daddy have been given equal status as caregiver. (For another politically correct version go here )
This next example probably isn't so monumental, I just think it's funny. Growing up I always sang "The eensy weensy spider went up the water spout..."I was singing this to some kids and they looked at me funny as they sang "The itsy bitsy spider..."Last Friday night my mother started to sing this song to Estee and she sang "the eensy weensy spider..." My guess is this is just my mother's version and this is how she taught me, not that the song has changed. Does anyone else sing it like me?
Another sign of the times can be found with our furry blue friend, cookie monster. As innocent as I was growing up (and probably still now), I never would have dreamed that cookie monster's love for cookies would cause problems for kids. A few months ago my cousin informed me that angry mothers were blaming cookie monster for the obesity in their children. Could that be it? Always looking for a scapegoat huh? She continued to tell me that because of all the angry parents, Sesame Street changed cookie monster to cucumber monster. I was beyond outraged! That doesn't go well at all!!! C is for cucumbers that's good enough for me.....cucumber cucumber cucumber starts with c? no! After doing further research I found out that this was only considered and instead cookie monster now sings about cookies being a "sometimes food." What is actually happening is they will be having vegetables making guest appearances on the show.
Is this really necessary? Are kids really going to eat more cookies because cookie monster does? That is the epitome of his name. I think children realize that. If they don't, isn't it our job as parents to explain it? They aren't getting obese on their own. They have to be given most things by their parents. I have come to the conclusion that some of the evolution may be a good thing but some of it may be society just going overboard. On the other hand, we do have the oppositte extreme as well. You can see one example in two previous posts of mine:
1. music troubles
2. things you can do in the shower
I am not quite sure yet which version of things I will be exposing Estee to. Maybe both. Are the changes good or bad? You decide...

Catching up time...

2006-01-23T11:51:00.000-10:00

I was doing so well with the posting almost every day thing but I've been so busy and I feel like so much has happened so I will try to remember it all:
Thursday I spoke with Estee's pediatritian about the vomiting thing and before I tell you about our conversation I just have to say that I absolutely love her pediatritian! They are a husband and wife practice. We see and speak with both but she mainly sees the husband. They are both terrific though. When I got off the phone with him I realized he was on with me for 20 minutes. Who does that? It wasn't because I asked him 5000 things either, it was because he went into detail with his explanations and he didn't rush me at all. anyhoo...he said that it is perfectly normal that she does that. Babies as young as her have figured out what they can do to get what they want. She realizes that if she screams so hard and vomits, mommy will come running. He said that obviously I have to clean her off but I have to make it all about business. I also told him that she still wakes up hungry at 4 am sometimes. He said that we slowly have to train her not to do this. He said to first just let her cry for as long as she would when going to sleep. If she is still crying then I can go and feed her. He was very supportive and understanding of the fact that it is not easy for a mother to do this, especially at 4 am. I honestly can't take her crying anymore. It is so heartbreaking. She screams in such an angry way and I cry every time. Thursday night when she had finished crying and finally fell asleep, I went to check on her and saw her cute little hand hanging over the side of the crib. All she needed was a little white flag and the scene would have been set. (See below) The doctor also said we can introduce her to a sippy cup since she often tries sitting with her bottle. How exciting! We went out and bought one yesterday.(See below) Yesterday we also took her to the pizza shop for the first time. She sat in her stroller at the table and I fed her baby food carrots. She was in seventh heaven. Every time a stranger passed by she would look at them and give them the biggest gummy smile you have ever scene. She is quite the ham! (See below).
Saturday night, I couldn't get her to eat her dinner. Aaron tried at 7:30 and I tried again at 8. All she did was cry. I figured she just wasn't hungry. Sometimes she does that. I put her in her excersaucer to play but she continued to cry. I gave her some orajel. Bam. The second the stuff hit her gums she was smiling big again. I tried to give her a spoon full of her dinner and she ate it right away. Rather than disturbing her by moving her, I continued to feed her in there. The only problem being that when she is standing, she tends to jump. Every so often, as the spoonful was almost in her mouth she would jump and it would get all over the place. One particular time, she jumped and the spoon went right in her eye. The poor kid couldn't open her eye. She was trying to rub her eye but only got more in it considering her hand was covered in food too!(see below)
Lastly, Aaron has told me that he is not happy when I use the word "pathetic" to describe the looks she makes or the way she cries sometimes. He said it isn't very nice. I made him look up the word on dictionary.com to show him that it doesn't mean what he thinks it does. Anyone agree?
Sorry that this post is a bit incoherent. I just had so many things to write about this time. Some of the pictures below correspond with the post and others are just cute with captions...
(ps I tried captions 5 times and each time I deleted another picture, I'm so frustrated!!)

Estee's new game

2006-01-20T02:09:00.000-10:00

Last night, after feeding Estee dinner she began to get a little agitated. While washing her face I noticed that she was absolutely enthralled with the running water. hmm....lightbulb! In my field I always jump at the chance for a sensory experience. Being that playing with shaving cream is probably not a very good idea for a 6 month old, I figured this would be just as good. I leaned her over the sink and waited to see what would happen. I wasn't surprised to see her reach for the running water and begin to play. What did surprise me was the fact that I was talented enough to be holding her over the sink and position the digital camera in such a way that I was able to capture these cute pictures of her! I am so glad we found a new calming toy!

Not my usual style

2006-01-18T02:14:00.000-10:00

I try to stay away from topics that are not directly related to Estee. I have been very careful about not posting things that have happened to me or thoughts that I have had about life in general that don't have anything to do with her. I know it may seem silly but it's just my thing. I plan on printing out this whole blog and putting it in a binder titled "life with Estee" to let her read one day. I'm hoping she will get a kick out of it. One recent event though has left me so angry. Last night you could find me sitting on my couch screaming at the TV because of this particular event. My justification for writing it in Estee's blog is that it has to do with parenting, or lack thereof and so does my blog, in a way. It is possible that I may say something somewhat controversial but my disclaimer is this: I do not mean to offend anyone, I'm just angry....
That poor sweet Nixzmary. What did she ever do? I get so angry when I hear stories like this. My blood just boils when I hear about parents starving their children, or babies found in dumpsters, or horrid details of other types of abuse that poor innocent children are forced to endure. There are so many people I am angry at right now. I am angry at her parents (obviously) for being sick enough to do this to her. The cover of yesterday's post said "Mother didn't stop father from beating her because she was afraid he would hit her." Excuse me?? Big deal! If anyone ever had the audacity to come near my child in a threatening way I would stand in their way and get beaten to a pulp if I had to just to prevent ANY pain being inflicted upon her!!! That is the sorriest excuse I have ever heard! I am also angry at ACS for their oversight in this situation. This poor child's death could've been prevented and probably many others. I have often complained about the ridiculousness of some of their policies and procedures for deeming someone "abused." In some of my Graduate Education classes we have discussed this matter at length. Many teachers have reported situations to them and upon going to the house if there was minimal food and clothing in the house and no obvious marks on the child they would immediately drop the case. Not all abuse leaves visible scars. Finally, on a more phylisophical note, I am angry at G-d. I know this sounds a bit childish and I have often said that we don't know G-d's plan or why he does what he does but in situations like this, I find that I don't think very rationally. My anger is two-fold. Firstly, why did that poor girl and countless others deserve to be treated in this way? What terrible sin could an innocent child possibly commit that they deserve to be beaten and murdered by the two people they trust most in the world? Secondly, why do sick undeserving animals of people end up birthing children, sometimes in multiples when there are amazing, loving, G-d fearing people out there that cannot? This to me is perhaps the cruelest irony. To digress a bit for a moment, at a recent shabbos meal we were discussing my favorite discussion of all: abortion. I'm not going to go into detail but basically I was giving my opinion on why I think that the privilege is abused by some. I went on to say that it isn't fair that people who have no real reason to abort (other than just not wanting a baby) do so when there are so many people out there that want a child so badly. I guess this kind of falls under the same category for me. Lastly, I am angry at the legal system. All right, here goes another controversial issue: Death penalty. Yes, in some murder cases we can claim that we aren't sure if the person really did it and they may be killed wrongfully, blah blah. Two wrongs don't make a right, we can't play G-d blah blah again. In situations like this I think we should use this punishment. Okay people, this is when I will get harsh: Anyone that causes REAL harm (not a little potch or something) upon an innocent child willingly does not deserve to live. ouch, I know but I told you, I'm angry. Do you honestly think that this man deserves to go to prison, get paroled in 10 years and then possibly father more children? This was one of the things I was yelling at the TV last night. I think I just raised my blood pressure a lot but I feel better getting that rant out of the way. Now, let me go kiss my innocent little cutie pie who has no idea of all the terrible things that go on in this world. It's a damn shame I can't keep it that way!

The things that cheer us up

2006-01-17T11:18:00.000-10:00

With adults it can be a fun song, a funny joke, or a simple smile from the ones we love. For a baby it can be a bottle, a pacifier, a fun song, a silly face, a silly voice, or a hug. But, not my child! Nope! She's got to be different. She is only 6 months old and already expressing her individuality. You gotta love it.
You see, my little girl finds comfort in a brush. A brush? You ask.. what can be so soothing about a brush? Well, in Estee's defense, it is a Winnie The Pooh brush. Who doesn't like Winnie the Pooh?
It all started last week. Sometimes when I am changing her she gets agitated either because she is hungry, uncomfortable or just wants to move around and I am not letting her. I usually have a pacifier nearby that I can give her to keep her calm or a toy of some sort. This particular day I didn't so I grabbed a clean diaper and gave it to her to hold. She was thrilled! (ps- Winnie the pooh is on her diaper too!) A few days ago clean diapers were out of my reach and she was so distraught that I quickly grabbed the first thing I could find, which was her brush. She immediately stopped crying and became facinated with every aspect of her brush.
Later on when Aaron was changing her she was screaming. I came into the room and said, "I know what will get her to stop." I handed her the brush and she stopped immediately. Last night after her bath she wasn't too happy to get dressed. I quickly gave her the brush. Every time she lost her grip and it fell, she began to cry again. The second she saw it again, she stopped crying. I have to make sure now to always have that brush nearby in case she is upset. Maybe I should buy another one just in case.

more pictures with captions

2006-01-16T12:43:00.000-10:00

Aww Pooh, I love to hug you!

I strive to have my own blog one day!

'I may look like I'm working hard but I'm really playing solitaire. shhhh...'

What can we try tonight?

2006-01-16T02:33:00.000-10:00

Last week there were a few nights in a row where Estee refused to eat her dinner. All she would do was cry. We weren't sure if the highchair was bothering her, if it was the food taste, if she wasn't hungry or if she was too hungry and therefore too agitated to work at it. But after trying a few different things I decided to call the pediatritian to see what he thinks. He told me that it would probably be a good idea to give her more variety to find out what she likes. He said to buy some stage 2 fruits and vegetables that are combinations of foods she has already had or that introduces only one new one. Over Shabbos since I hadn't bought any stage two yet, I tried to make my own combinations. Peas and carrots, carrots and sweet potatoes...
Last night though, we hit the jackpot. I bought sweetpotatoes and apples. Now, the stage 2 jars are double the size (or so) as the stage one jars. For a while she was eating a whole stage 1 jar at one sitting but for the past week she has only been eating half. Last night she ate the whole stage 2 jar! I guess that flavor combination was a hit! We got a baby food processor and I am so excited to make her my own combinations! When she is allowed to have chicken I think the first thing I will make her is sweet potato apple chicken. Hmmm, that might not be a bad idea for this shabbos!

who's crazier?

2006-01-16T02:24:00.000-10:00

When you are walking down the street who looks crazier/funnier to you: The person that looks like they are talking to themselves because they are on a headset and using lots of hand gestures, or the woman that is animatedly talking to a baby in a stroller while walking to shul? Well the latter would be me this past Friday night. I was walking to shul with Estee because Chaim Dovid was in to do the davening. I was excitedly telling her who we were going to see and acting very silly. People must've thought I was nuts. But, I was so caught up in it that I didn't really pay attention to my surroundings. Right as I was getting to shul I started to get a muscle spasm in my calf. (kinda like the ones you get in the middle of the night when you are pregnant, ouch!) I was trying to walk it off without making too much of a scene when I got this terrible vision of my leg buckling while I was walking down the stairs at shul holding her. When I walked in I saw my friends husband and asked if he could carry her down the stairs. He must've thought I was crazy too. Well, don't we all?
I am so proud of my little girl! She was so well behaved in shul. She sat on my lap and just looked at random people and gave them a big gummy smile. When it was time to stand and Chaim Dovid was doing some nay nay nays she kicked her legs in my arms and sang to the music. The only thing she didn't let me do was daven shemoneh Esrei. Not because she was getting cranky, but because all she wanted to do was rip the pages and eat the siddur. By the time shul was over, she was hungry and a bit overtired. I was so disappointed because I really wanted her to meet Chaim Dovid. I had this vision of her grabbing his face and screetching like she often does to people. But, he did give her a hug and I did tell him that she enjoyed dancing to his singing. Too bad I couldn't take a picture. I guess I can take her to shul more often.

Thursday night ritual?

2006-01-15T03:51:00.000-10:00

This past Thursday night I fed Estee after her bath and she was just playing around. I said okay, you're not eating, lets go to bed. I put her in her crib and she was fine for a few minutes and then she started screaming. She has quite a set of lungs on her when she is angry and boy was she angry. I can't even begin to tell you how heart wrenching this particular cry is. I called my mother to talk me through it but she was too upset hearing her cry and only made me more upset. After about 10 minutes of screaming I decided to go in and rub her back. I think it was a fair compromise. I wasn't taking her out of the crib but I was providing her with some comfort. As soon as I got there she made a choking noise and before I was able to act, vomited all over her blanket. When Estee used to spit up a lot (before her nutramigin days) she would often spit up 4 ounces in which case I would refer to it as vomiting. That was just my way of differentiating between a little spit up and a lot. By no means did I really mean she was vomiting. This time she really vomited. Complete with gagging and heaving which I might add is really scary when a 6 month old child is doing it! I took her out of her crib and wiped her face. She was already starting to fall asleep in my arms. She was doing that breathing thing that kids do after they cry a lot and that is so heartbreaking. Her stomach was calming itself down by making gurgling noises. All in all, she was now content. I looked at her orange vomit colored sheets and bumpers (she had sweet potatoes for dinner, yum..). Then, I looked around at my empty apartment. Shoot, Aaron's at a simply tzfat kumsitz. How the heck am I going to change her sheets if she is falling asleep in my arms? Of course, when I called Aaron's cell phone 10 times he didn't answer. I called 3 people in the shul to call their husband and tell Aaron to call me. Finally, I got a call back and Aaron came home to take her so I could change her sheets. Oh Estee, two weeks in a row? Please don't turn this into a habit.

Gee, it's wonderful being loved...

2006-01-12T15:59:00.000-10:00

This morning Estee woke up at 3 am for a feeding. Usually when this happens she sleeps way past the time I leave in the morning. So, I was quite surprised when I went into her room this morning to get something and found her smiling up at me. There was no turning back at that point. Once she saw me there was no way she was going back to sleep. When I took her out of her crib, she wrapped her arms around my neck put her head on my shoulder and squeezed. Yum. I love Estee hugs..
The past couple of days when I have gotten home Estee has been sleeping and has continued to sleep for about 2 hours. How frustrating. Today I was actually looking forward to that naptime so I could cook for shabbos. Of course, when I came home, she was wide awake. After I played with her a bit, I put her into her excersaucer (which she now got into the habit of jumping in to. I guess once she learned how to jump she doesn't want to stop.) to get some cooking done. When I was right next to her she was playing nicely, laughing and jumping. Literally the second I would go into the kitchen to get an ingredient she started to cry. When I walked back out and looked at her she started laughing again. What the heck. I had to get my mother to take her for an hour so I could get something done. My mother told me that the whole time she was there she was really upset and cranky, she must be teething. When she got home I expected miss cranky pants but she was so happy, guess she just missed me!

How funny

2006-01-11T10:48:00.000-10:00

Just to digress a bit. My mother sent me a really funny email about motherhood that I thought would be nice to share. Considering this is a blog about motherhood, I figured it was okay....

“Why God made moms" answers given by elementary school age children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house. 3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your Mom?
1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work & work at home, & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on her back.

==============*****************================
THE MOMMY TEST

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that.
"Why?" my daughter asked.
"Because it's been laying outside, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied.
At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Wow! How do you know all this stuff?"
"Uh," ...I was thinking quickly,"All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information.
"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the daddy."
"Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face and joy in my heart.

Kids, gotta love em!
One day Estee will turn to me and say something just as funny I am sure! But I am definitely not rushing! I am dreading the day when I turn around and say When did she grow up??

How exciting

2006-01-10T01:39:00.000-10:00

I am so excited and so flattered. Thank you to whoever nominated me:
http://info.jpost.com/C005/BlogCentral/JIB.2005/gr.rest.html
I guess now you can vote for me too :)

Highchair

2006-01-09T02:10:00.000-10:00

Yesterday my father and law and I spent a few hours putting Estee's highchair together. Well, maybe it was only an hour but it felt like more. And, maybe he did more than me but I still helped so it counts. When it was finally finished it was beautiful! She ate her dinner in there last night. She was happy initially. Either she was full or she was uncomfortable but she refused to eat the last half of her dinner and started to cry. (good news is, she still slept through the night!)
It is a very cool highchair. It has side toys which you see, but it also has a toy that you snap into the tray to occupy your baby while you are getting the food ready. oysh, there I go again sounding like a commercial. I gotta stop this, unless I am going to get paid! I need the money!

Tagged. I'm it.

2006-01-09T01:56:00.000-10:00

I was tagged with the 4 meme. Since this blog is exclusively about my dear Estee, I will make the 4 meme about her as well.

four cute new things she does:
1. Jumps in her new jumperoo and gets really excited about it.
2. tries to say da da da
3. looks up at me when we are doing two different things and smiles
4. flirts with her pediatrician

four places I'd like to visit with Estee in the near future:
1. Music together (a music and movement class for mommy and baby)
2. disney world
3. The zoo
4. Botanical gardens for a picnic. (she loves flowers and trees!)

four foods I constantly craved while pregnant with Estee:
1. Macaroni and cheese
2. Egg and cheese on a sesame bagel
3. smoothies
4. macaroni and chopped meat casserole

four nerdy things I do as a mom:
1. try to make us match when we go to shul
2. talk to her picture when she is not near me
3. make up weird names to call her
4. some people may even say writing this blog :)

Four toys Estee loves:
1. obviously her new jumperoo
2. her sing and learn puppy
3. her duck puppet that quacks three different songs when you move your hand to open and close it's beak
4. chicken dance elmo

Four songs Estee loves to sing:
1. I've been working on the railroad
2. if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops
3. Shabbos is coming
4. The I love Estee song

Four people I tag:
(I don't know how to link sorry! maybe someone can teach me?)
1. mayfam <http://www.mayfam.blogspot.com>
2. pragmatician <http://www.blogger.com/profile/10680950>
3. Jtopo <http://www.findingjme.blogspot.com/>
4. Sarah <http://www.fiveweeksoffreedom.blogspot.com/>

Estee's new jumperoo

2006-01-08T02:10:00.000-10:00

Well, I finally figured out the video thing, I think.
Estee got a fisherprice jumperoo. I knew she would love it because she is so active. Words cannot describe how funny and cute she looked in it. Enjoy the video. (Sorry it's not 15 seconds but 2 minutes...) Thank you to my inlaws for allowing me to keep the jumperoo at their house until we get rid of the swing!

The stain on the floor

2006-01-07T17:42:00.000-10:00

For some strange reason although we were successful initially with the letting Estee cry herself to sleep thing, this past week she cried and cried.
Thursday night she was done eating and just playing around so I put her into bed, said Shema with her, gave her a kiss, and left. 5 minutes later she was screaming. It was hard but I let her cry for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes I rubbed her back a little bit (this worked the night before) But, she kept looking at me and laughing. I figured, okay she is fine. So, I left. She screamed for another 20 minutes. Just when I was finished calling my last person to get me through the pain, I heard her choking. I ran into her room, flipped her upside down and she vomited all over her carpet. There is now a nice big orange stain on her nice clean green carpet.
My mother convinced me that I didn't need to call the Dr, and the only reason she vomited was because she got herself so worked up, she made herself sick. What a temper on my child.
So at that point I figured it was okay to take her into bed with me and hold her. She of course fell asleep immediately. What a horrible ordeal!

how did this happen?

2006-01-04T16:55:00.000-10:00

and, how can I fix it?

Darn, I should've thought of that!

2006-01-04T02:10:00.000-10:00

Have you ever come across a product and thought..Hey, why didn't I think of that? It's kind of like a person who struggles every day carrying their books to school. Every couple of feet he has to stop and re-adjust or pick up the books he has dropped. One day he is leafing through a magazine and comes across a bookbag. wow. Why didn't he think of that?
Well, this just happened to me this morning. I was doing my morning bathroom reading of one of my motherhood magazines when I came across an awe inspiring ad.
Aaron always makes fun of me that the second Estee's pacifier drops on the floor I run to wash it off. My mother says "she's going to be eating off the floor soon." That may be so but I'm going to try to stop it. Why should I allow her to put a dirty pacifier in her mouth if I can do something about it? We have one of those clips and they are nice and all but we don't really use it so much at home because she likes to pull it across her neck...not so safe...
She has been in the habit lately of spitting it out of her mouth, across the room...
or, throwing it..
I'm not quite sure either of these is intentional but I must wash it nonetheless.
Well, back to the ad. It is called "keep it kleen pacifier" (I know, clean is spelled wrong. I'm not that tired...that's how they spell it!) I think this is the greatest invention. This is what the ad says: "Every time your baby drops one (which is every 37 seconds) The "wings" on these pacis snap shut before they hit the ground, keeping the nipple dirt free. (http://www.onestepahead.com/jump.jsp?lGen=detail&itemID=330764&itemType=PRODUCT&iProductID=330764&change=117)
I absolutely must get one of these. You know, I just realized. My past two posts are kind of like mini-advertisements. I think these companies should pay me. I'm doing a great job!

Thanks Aunt Ellen

2006-01-03T12:14:00.000-10:00

If you have a teething baby you must get this product!!
Estee's great Aunt Ellen bought her a vibrating teething ring. When she bites down, it vibrates on her gums. She loves it. It cracks her up.
Only problem is the other day I asked my mother if she knew where Estee's vibrator was. I think I should probably phrase that differently.
http://www.thefirstyears.com/products/product.asp?pValue=1479

Must get highchair..

2006-01-02T05:59:00.000-10:00

When Estee was first born somebody got us a highchair as a gift. At the time it seemed like something we would not need for a while so we kept it at my in-laws. When Estee started solids I figured she was still little enough to eat from her bouncy seat. The past couple of weeks though I keep saying we need to get her highchair. She loves to be sitting straight.
Yesterday it was decided for me. She can no longer be fed her bouncy seat. All she wants to do is sit:

so, I guess we need that highchair huh?

some captions

2005-12-30T01:40:00.000-10:00

Oh my goodness, I am so hungry I could eat a bowl! (I don't really care for horses!)

What a messy Chanukah I had! But boy did I enjoy it!!!!

I really loooooooooove Chanukah!!!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me...but not me!

2005-12-28T02:26:00.000-10:00

Estee finally finished trying all the veggies so we gave her her first fruit Friday. Bananas mmm..
She actually really liked them. But uch what it did to her poop. (All I will say is it was very tar like, and very smelly....)
Last night I gave her peaches for dessert. I tasted them as I do all her fruits and veggies and I noticed they were a bit tart. Hmmm...how is she going to like them? Well, she made her usual face that she makes upon tasting something new but she was still making it after the 4th and 5th spoonful. She also was making a haaaa sound like I can't take this stuff anymore. (that's the best I could explain it.) So I'm guessing she doesn't really like peaches. I'll try again today but who knows...
Then I got to thinking...what if she is allergic to them? How will I know if she is having an allergic reaction during the night if we are all sleeping? Her cheeks did look a little splotchy....
So of course until I fell asleep I kept checking on her to make sure she was still breathing...
I wonder when that's going to stop..

Chanukah presents

2005-12-28T01:59:00.000-10:00

Estee got some really great Chanukah presents. I am not quite sure what to do with all of them. Our apartment barely has room for all of mine and Aarons clutter (which by the way I keep telling him we must get rid of because she is going to be crawling soon...)
It is so amazing for me to see how much she has advanced over the past couple of weeks. She went from kind of grasping things and looking all around, to fully focusing on a toy and actually playing with it. Either shaking a rattle, trying to press a button, or just putting it in her mouth. All of these toys couldn't have come at a better time. I got some great gifts too! My favorite was satin hands by Mary Kay. A 4 step process to smooth hands. Wow, what a great present for a new mother who's hands are so raw and cut from constant scrubbing.

Here are some things Estee got for Chanukah, thank you everyone!
Ps the baby in the jumper is not my Estee, it is a baby model from the fisher price website. Check out all the cool things these toys do: www.fisherprice.com

No longer an excuse?

2005-12-27T11:21:00.000-10:00

At what point am I no longer allowed to use my pregnancy as an excuse for being fat? Estee is almost 6 months, is that the cut off?
Today I took Estee for a walk and I ran into a parent of one of my old students. She said "oh, you had a baby?" I said, "I had her almost 6 months ago..." She said, "oh I thought that is why you left the school, because you were pregnant." I told her she was not the first person to inquire about that. I said maybe someone just guessed that that was the reason and it got passed around. She told me that another mother told her and then said "haven't you seen her belly?" Hmmm. My non-pregnant belly is causing others to think I am pregnant. Something must be done!
I carry around 4 skinny pictures of myself in my bag as my daily incentive. 2 of them are at my skinniest and two of them are of my heaviest. The heavy ones seem skinny in comparison. Today I was showing someone the pictures and he said "wow, you were so skinny...." Emphasis on the word "were." Thanks?
Yesterday I ran up and down the stairs in our apartment, what a workout! I have been on a major diet as well so we shall see. This is so depressing!

Estee's first Chanukah

2005-12-25T16:37:00.000-10:00

Estee's so frum!

2005-12-24T13:08:00.000-10:00

A black hat and a tichel!

music troubles

2005-12-22T14:57:00.000-10:00

When I was pregnant I became overly aware of things around me that are inappropriate for children. It is during that time that the notorious rapper 50 cent (who ironically performed at that 10 million dollar bat mitzvah....) came out with his song called Candy shop. Well, it sounds innocent enough. Wrong! It is the most disgusting and graphic song I have ever heard playing on the radio. The beginning is just inneundos so it is not so bad. If he would have just stayed at that it would have been okay but he goes into explicit detail. For those of you who are curious and have not heard the filth here is a link to lyrics (I will not write them here)http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/50cent/candyshop.html
Of course I called z100 to complain about the fact that they could play such a song on a station that children listen to. What horrified me even more was that at the time I was working at a preschool that is in the same building as a frum all girls yeshiva. I was in the bathroom one day and two girls were singing this song as if this was the greatest thing on earth. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew all the words! Little yiddishe mamelahs not older than 10! It was at that moment that I decided that little fetus Estee would not know from things such as z100. Of course when I was pregnant my excuse for continuing to listen to z100 and krock was that she wasn't born yet. Now I only listen sometimes in the car if she is not there and in the shower (we asked our rav about our shower radio and he said absolutely no Jewish music in the bathroom so that's okay...) So tonight in the shower Sean Paul came on and I realized that I really like him. You can't understand a word he says so if it's dirty you wouldn't know. Is it completely out of line to ask for his cd in addition to Shlomo Katz and Eli Kransler for Chanukah?

Proof that she loves me too

2005-12-21T10:56:00.000-10:00

Last night when I got out of the shower Estee was crying angrily as Aaron tried to calm her down. He said she had been like this since I went into the shower. I took her to calm her down and all of a sudden her cry changed. She remained crying but it was more of a ha ha ha cry (can't explain it better, sorry...)I looked at her and she was smiling! My little creep was faking it! She did that a couple of more times througout the evening. After her bath, Aaron was getting her dressed and she was screaming bloody murder. The second I came into the room and looked at her she started laughing. When I left again, the crying started once again. This made me laugh. Hmmm...I guess she loves me too!
Ps as I write, she's sitting in her bouncy seat desperately trying to get my attention!

Diaper rash woes

2005-12-18T13:46:00.000-10:00

In terms of Estee's little tushy, I take every possible precautionary measure to prevent diaper rash. I even went as far as creating a step by step list that I pasted above her changing table so anyone who changes her will abide by our strict diaper changing guidelines. After every diaper change I use a cloth to make sure she is completely dry. I then cover her in a thick layer of desitin. To the point where all you see is white. To quote my babysitter we "baste her like a turkey." Sometimes I even let her play on a blanket naked and "air dry." If I see a rash brewing (which I did shabbos) I don't use wipes and I let her air dry after almost every change and I change her every hour. If I am doing all of this how did she still get a diaper rash again? What am I doing wrong? Her poor tushy looks terrible. What else is there left to do?
On a funnier note as I was changing her diaper and putting on that thick layer of desitin I stupidly left the diaper open while I reached for a wipe to get my hands clean. I couldn't close the diaper because my hands were covered in desitin. Of course, while my hand was away she stuck her hand smack in the middle of the thick desitin and kinda shmeared it around a bit. Before I had time to think, her hand was all over the place. She was covered in desitin! Of course her hand was my priority being that she sticks it in her mouth. It took me a good five minutes to get her hand clean because the desitin was caked into her fingernails! By the time I was finished cleaning all the desitin, I had to start the process again because most of the desitin that was wear it should be was relocated to other parts of her body. The whole time Estee was hysterical laughing. I'm kind of getting the feeling that she knows what she is doing. Boy, she is a trouble maker!

Who are you and what did you do with my Mommy?

2005-12-18T13:35:00.000-10:00

It all began on Friday night. What a week, I was so exausted. My dear husband told me that after I feed her her veggie/cereal I can go to bed and he will put her to bed. I fell asleep around 9 but unfortunately Throughout the night I kept waking up with a terrible sore throat. I figured it was the heat and I was just dry so I downed two bottles of water. Of course that didn't go over that well with my bladder. All in all I didn't sleep much. Shabbos I was lethargic a whole day and kept falling asleep on the couch. Aaron and his parents convinced me to go out a little Saturday night to a chinese auction (where we won again yes!!) saying it would make me feel better. I didn't get into bed until 11:3o (I had wanted to be sleeping by 10:30 the latest) I didn't fall asleep until 1 am. At 4 I woke up and I spent an hour moaning because I felt so yucky and I was so tired. 7:15 my alarm went off for hebrew school. I got out of bed and my right eye wouldn't open. I thought I had pink eye. In the end I didn't but I do have a bad cold. The cold got periodically worse throughout the day. For the past few hours I have sounded like a man and sometimes a boy going through puberty. I kept playing with Estee and she would look at me and smile like she always does (she recognizes my face) but then I would say "hey Es..." in my oh so manly voice and she would just look at me confused. You look like my mommy, but you don't sound like her. I'm not so sure she liked it. The past half hour my voice became almost non-existant. She was crying before and I was trying to tell her that it is okay but it only came out as squeaks that she couldn't really hear so my attempts were futile. At times like these I really wonder what she is thinking. Does her brain work in a way that when I was just a little hoarse she still recognized it as my voice? Or, did she think it was a strangers?

Fun!

2005-12-17T15:43:00.000-10:00

Tonight I had such a great time and such a great workout. Estee and I had a dance party to my favorite Chaim Dovid song. Re'eh nah (on Maaser Rishon). She was laughing hysterically. I got such a great workout in my arms because I kept lifting her up and pulling her back. On another note please enjoy the cute pictures of Estee loving her butternut squash and of her loving to be naked!

[My father requested that the naked picture of his grandaughter be removed from public view immediately. Sorry Dad]

zzz

2005-12-17T15:35:00.000-10:00

It all started on Thanksgiving. Estee was playing with Aaron and he was making zzz sounds to her and she was cracking up. When it was time to get bundled up to go out she got a little agitated. Hmmm, she liked the zzz sounds, let me see....and bam she was cracking up again. It was such a great distraction. Ever since then any time we have to complete a task that she isn't so happy with, whether it is getting bundled or changing a diaper, the zzz works great! A few times when she was crying I calmed her down by zzzing to her favorite song. For example: Za Za Za Za Zu za zee Za za zu za zu zee. You see that was Mary had a little lamb.

7 minutes= a lifetime

2005-12-13T16:56:00.000-10:00

That was the worst seven minutes of my life. I have read article after article telling me the same thing as my doctor and as all my friends who have kids a bit older than Estee. Babies must learn how to fall asleep on their own. If they can do that they will be able to do it in the middle of the night. Every night I make up another excuse why I can't do it. It's already late and I need to go to sleep, or she had shots today, or something. Tonight my excuses ran out and I knew it was for the best. After she had dinner, her bath and her bottle she was still awake but very tired. I put her in bed. She played a little, then started to kvetch. When the crying started I frantically picked up the phone to call one of my friends. This friend told me of the time she let her son cry. She went outside and called people and her husband called her on the cellphone when it was over. Being that Aaron wasn't home, I figured atleast let me talk to someone who can encourage me not to go get her. That friend didn't answer. The next friend I called wasn't home. When I called Aaron he said his shiur just ended and Maariv will be starting in 5 minutes, he'll be home after that. I told him that I hope her crying doesn't end that long. So, I called my mom. Atleast I was the only one crying. I was afraid that it would be 7 minutes of all three generations crying. But, it was only me and Estee. When she finally quieted down, a huge boulder was lifted off of my chest. I needed to check on her. What if she wasn't sleeping and saw me? But, what if she choked from crying and needs me? I decided I must see. So I told my mother to be quiet just in case she would hear her through the phone and I crawled into her room. When I got to the crib I slowly slowly got up and peered over the top of her crib. Eyes closed, chest moving rhythmically in and out. Ahhhh, sleep. Thank G-d. So, it worked. 7 minutes. It somehow doesn't really seem that bad but at the time it was. Before my mother said goodnight she said "It will take a few more nights before she gets used to it." WHAT??!! I have to do this again???? I was so happy that I finally got it over with. I thought all it took was one night. My mother also warned me that it may not be 7 minutes tommorow. Oysh. Take this as your warning everyone. Be home and be available. I WILL be calling you!

Things I love about being Estee's Mommy

2005-12-12T13:26:00.000-10:00

1. The way I can be having the worst day and one look at or even thought of her cheers me up instantaneously.
2. The way she sometimes just looks up at me and for no reason at all other than the fact that we have a bond, just smiles.
3. How at 4 am when I am beyond exausted and just want to go to sleep, she can make funny sounds in her crib keeping me up and I laugh rather than getting annoyed.
4. How I can be on the other side of the room talking to someone and she will stop what she is doing to follow my voice.
5. The way she lights up and smiles when I walk in the door and say hi to her.
6. The way she opens her mouth any time anything comes near it with hopes of chewing and or sucking on it.
7. The way she laughs when I kiss her cheek
8. The way she "kisses" me by sucking on my cheek.
9. The way she fake coughs to get my attention and when she gets it, laughs.
10. The way that the second I put her in the bathtub she starts kicking like crazy getting me and everything around me soaking wet.
11. The way she grabs my face when I'm holding her.
12. The way she rubs my back when she is falling asleep on my shoulder.
13. How she concentrates so hard when trying to accomplish a task.
14. How when she gets excited she flails her arms and legs all around.
15. How she slams her legs down onto the ground over and over.
16. How she loves to be naked
17. Her facsination with trees
18. The way her pain hurts me more than it hurts her.
19. The way she tries to have a conversation with me.
20. The way she rolls over while I'm trying to change her diaper.

I love you Esther Malka Gropper!

More new tricks

2005-12-12T13:14:00.000-10:00

Estee has a bunch of new fun things to add to her repertoire. She is almost creeping. She bends her knees and pulls her tush up and tries to slither. Sometimes she moves half an inch, it's so exciting. Remember in gymnastics classes you would have to make a bridge with your body? Well, in the below picture, you may not be able to tell but that is what Estee is doing. Cool huh? (and yes that his her bare tushy you see, and no, she doesn't have diaper rash. The doctor says that letting her air out is a preventative measure so why not?) A few other things she has been doing lately: laughing out loud, screetching really high pitched and really loud over and over. Last night she tried butternut squash, yum! She kept saying "mmm, mmm." So, I guess she liked it too. Well, her newest and cutest trick is this: she was making tongue raspberries with the food in her mouth. Needless to say, it got everywhere. It was hard not to laugh. She of course realized she had an audience (not to mention I was videotaping it) and kept doing it for more laughter. I know in the future we may regret encouraging her to do this but right now it is a milestone and a cute one at that!

addiction

2005-12-11T03:00:00.000-10:00

Hi my name is Rebecca and I'm addicted to my baby. You probably have already realized that. Last night though, since she had been very cranky all evening due to teething, I kinda did a bad thing. I brought her into bed with me and let her fall asleep on me. Of course I did not fall asleep myself although I was almost there. And, of course I jumped at the photo op and told Aaron to get the camera and I hastily put my snood on, hence the black paintbrush markings over the rest of my hair yet again. Well, it was the most amazing feeling. I was so comfortable and so at peace which I am sure she was as well. Finally Aaron said she is in a deep sleep, let me put her into bed and you can go to sleep. The second he took her out of my arms I felt cold and uncomfortable. Although I had to keep myself from drifting off with her in my arms, I could not fall asleep once she was gone. It took me an hour. The only thing is, I think she had the same problem. Every hour she woke up. She cried a little in her sleep, and once she had her pacifier, she was fine. It's probably bad that I keep giving it to her right?

Is this dangerous?

2005-12-09T04:05:00.000-10:00

I love peas!

2005-12-09T02:10:00.000-10:00

and apparantly, so does Estee. She slept for 9 hours straight last night (9:30-6:30). The only thing that was different was that she tried sweet peas for the first time. After her bath she had peas with her cereal and then a bottle. I decided though that I will give her the cereal and vegetable nightly and dinner time. Then, bathe her and then give her the bottle. Often after her bath she is so hungry that she won't eat cereal. We shall see. If she sleeps like that again tonight, then we know it was the peas. Wow, peas who would have thought. Thank G-d for peas then. I will give her peas every day if it means no more waking up at 3 am!

safety precautions

2005-12-07T12:54:00.000-10:00

So, now that Estee is flipping over and rolling all over the place something has to be done with our coffee table! (it has corners!!) Until I am able to get the things to cover the
corners(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000056J39/qid=1133997289/br=1-4/ref=br_lf_ba_4//002-5876054-7729627?v=glance&s=baby&n=548060) I must do something! When she rolls over close to a corner, although she is not yet sitting up, when she is on her stomach she can lift her head high enough to smack her head into a corner. We definitely don't want that. Here is what I did:
(it's a towel!)

This is her trying to roll over right by it:

answers

2005-12-05T15:06:00.000-10:00

Thanks to anon who commented and gave me the idea, I called la leche league and spoke with a woman named Liz for almost an hour about ways to solve my solution. She said not to worry because you don't dry up for months so a few days won't hurt. She also told me to continue to pump even though nothing is coming out that will increase my supply. So hopefully it will all workout. Thankfully she nursed a little before so maybe she is just going through a lazy phase and it will pass soon.
On another note check out the cute pics!

oh what a night...

2005-12-04T04:42:00.000-10:00

Last night I discovered that Estee once again has a diaper rash. I'm not quite sure what is going on. Every single time I change her I make sure she is completely dry, then apply a really thick layer of desitin. But for some reason they keep coming back! So, once again I let her play naked which she loved. Eventhough I put towels down, she still managed to pee on the carpet and on me. But that's okay. I wasn't feeling well and I went to bed at 11. Since I took an hour nap on shabbos I was unable to fall asleep until 12, how annoying! At 12:45 she woke up crying. Usually that means "Give me my paci..." but it didn't work and she continued to cry. Her cry sounded like she was in pain so I woke Aaron and said "do you think she's sick?" In his sleep he mumbled "she's fine," and went right back to snoring. I picked her up to see what was wrong, perhaps she was hungry. She peed all over me. Thank G-d! If it was on her sheets I'd have to go through the daily ritual of taking off her bumpers, changing her sheets and putting her bumpers back on. Just for a second I'd like to digress to this diaper issue. I'm a big fan of huggies because of the gigglastic but for some reason no matter how tight I make the diaper, she leaks through every night. Every single day I have been changing the sheets. Her legs are so skinny that she still wears a size one diaper. The other night I put two diapers on her and she still leaked through! Any ideas?
So, back to my night. I knew I had to change her (I realized that she probably cried because the peeing hurt her rash..) I also knew that she wanted to eat a little. Her eyes were still closed through the crying. If I gave her a bottle she would be in a nice sleep. If I changed her after the bottle she would wake up and it would be impossible to get her back to sleep. If I changed her before the bottle she would scream. Bring in Aaron. I woke Aaron, saying I need you so you gotta wake up. I made him hold the bottle in her mouth as I changed her which in the end was pretty ineffective because I think his eyes were closed the whole time and more formula ended up dribbling down her cheek and into her hair causing the back of her head to be soaking. Well, 2 oclock, she was finally sleeping. It was now my turn to attempt. Unfortunately, this was not an option due to Aaron's loud snoring and his recent refusal to wear his mouth guard which is supposed to stop or atleast muffle it. He kept getting angry at me for waking him to tell him to be quiet. At 2:45 I finally gave up and went to go sleep in the bed in Estee's room. Which I must say was kinda nice. 3:30 Estee woke up crying again. What the heck? could she still be hungry? She didn't eat much at 1 and 3:30 is sometimes her usual time to get up. So, since once again her eyes were half closed I started to nurse her..maybe it would work! And, it did! 5 minutes into the feeding Estee let out a grunt, I heard a squirting noise and felt something warm on my leg. Shoot! She just made! So, now I was faced with yet another dillemma. Stop feeding her and change her or wait until she is done? I opted on a compramise. As soon as she pulls herself off, I will change her. That is exactly what I did. Of course she wasn't too happy with me. Once her diaper was changed and her pajamas were off I figured I would try to continue to feed her and then maybe in her sleep I could slip on her new pajamas. At this point I guess she was to agitated and hungry and she didn't want to nurse. So, while the bottle warmed, I put her new pajamas on. I'm not sure what time it was when she finished eating because there is no clock in her room but whatever time it was, I went back to sleep. At around 6:30 she woke up to eat more. (Strange but she downed 4 oz.) After I was finished feeding her I called into hebrew school to tell them I wouldn't be making it today.(which isn't like me, but I was so exausted!) I slept until 9. Of course she is still sleeping but once I am up I think of all I have to do and I can't go back to sleep. I guess she is exausted too. It's 10:15 and she is still sleeping. She is in her new sleeping position with her tush up in the air, not sure if you can see it in the pictures but cute nonetheless.