Thursday, April 28, 2011

Standing up....

So Natali learned a new skill yesterday...standing up.

I think she has been studying what it takes to stand up for a while. Yesterday she went for it.

Natali can now go from laying down in her crib to standing up holding the rail. We saw this as a problem so I lowered the mattress.

Natali being the daughter of a geek and a scientist apparently has a highly advanced brain. After I lowered the mattress I put her to bed. She closed her eyes and PRETENDED to go off to sleep. As soon as I left the room, the door wasn't even closed, she sat up and reached for the rail and stood right up. When I came back in the room she was smiling with the pacifier in her mouth. In my head she was saying, "you're in trouble now dad!"

She tries to stand up all the time now. All day yesterday she would use myself or Kelli to pull herself up. She tries to pull herself up using the exersaucer...which teeters so it's not a good platform.

Natali doesn't appear to have any interest in crawling. She can move herself around the room by rolling and pulling herself around. She will get in a but high position...but only in an attempt to stand on her own.

Her latest sickness is mostly gone. She hasn't been drinking much lately. Maybe 16 ounces yesterday. She ate solid food fine though. My sister in law (a nurse) said as long as Natali is still urinating there is nothing to worry about. If she stopped then she might be dehydrated.

I have little doubt Natali will bypass crawling in favor of walking. Time will tell.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Sick again....damn daycare

Natali had a solid two weeks of being not sick. She was really great on vacation. We were happy.

Last week she was in daycare for 3 days...and got sick...bad.

I left for work on Thursday and didn't get back until Monday. Natali got really sick Sunday which meant Kelli had to burn another sick day. I have 70ish hours of sick time, but it's VERY hard to call in sick if I'm out flying, especially since I am based in Chicago currently.

Monday afternoon the daycare sent out an email...sixteen kids were out sick. An epedemic?

Natali was prescribed an antibiotic.

I arrived home at 1AM Tuesday morning. Tired.

Today Natali is a lot better. I am 100% sure it's because I'm home. She needed some daddy time. We had our normal morning of a nice bottle which watching Headline News, a 2 hour nap followed by pear oatmal and The 404 podcast. Natali was in a great mood all morning. I was happy to home again.

She did get a little fussy during her afternoon nap, but my this evening she was back to her normal self.

I hate taking her to daycare as she is almost always sick. I just hope this builds her immune system quickly.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Back from cruising with a baby

We had a great vacation and cruise. Our plans of buying everything for Natali in Miami mostly worked. I had to make two trips to Walmart as we left some things we meant to bring behind (spoons and small stuff).

We spent about $150 for all the supplies for Natali for 7 days including formula (we bought the ready to go packets...easier on the go!), solid food, diapers, wipes, blankets (we forgot our own!), stoller (el cheapo $15 special...did the job), and of course treats.

Using the ready to go packets worked great. They only made 4 ounce bottles, but that's what Natali is used to so no issue.

Norwegian Cruise lines is fairly kid friendly. We requested and were given a pack and play. Great...but it was kinda word in that the pillow pad was convexed and caused Natali to roll to the outside of the pack and play. Solution? She slept in the bed with us. Didn't bother me, slightly annoyed Kelli. Bleh.

Natali did very well staying awake for long periods of time without getting pissy .We took turns staying with her in the room. It helped having other family onboard as my mother in law and sister in law watched Natali a few times.

Our next planned trips are New York in August and Hawaii in January. Sure there will be more than those though.

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Friday, April 8, 2011

Packing for vacation.....with a baby

Natali has been on a big vacation before. When she was just 8 days old she traveled to Oregon for a week. I doubt she remembers it though.

For that trip we bought a lot of supplies locally rather than pack them. For this trip we are going on a cruise. There's no Walmart at sea.

We thought about it and came up with a solution. Buy supplies after we land in Miami.

We are bringing minimal diapers, formula and wipes. Just enough for two days max.

Saturday I will take an earlier flight (one of the many perks of working for an airline!), rent a minivan and buy supplies for the trip at a local Walmart. A few hours later Kelli and Natali will arrive, I will pick them up and head to a hotel for the night. Easy.....we hope.

As far as clothes. In the past Kelli and I have always traveled with just one carry on each. We went to Tokyo for a week...with JUST a carry on each. We pack VERY efficiently.

For this trip we had to rethink our approach. Natali doesn't need much in the way of luggage space, but we still couldn't get by with just two carry ons as we are gone for 8 days. Solution? One big ass suitcase.

I have been a fan of Delsey bags for years. They are light weight and high quality. I researched bags (again I research EVERYTHING) and found a 29 inch Air Energy bag at Kohls. The sticker price was $279, on sale for $139. I bought it online with a coupon and free shipping for $106 all in. Not too shabby.



 

We packed last night. Max weight for checked bags is 50 pounds. The Delsey bag weighs 12 pounds. With all of our clothes....all three of us....the weight is 39 pounds (12 pound bag + 27 pounds of clothes).  We are bringing a standard carry on with a duffle bag inside to bring back souvenirs and what not.

Should be a fun trip. Seven nights on a boat.