Losses

I was rooting through out the diaper bag at home after church today and realized Alisa's new teething ring was not in it. Apparently the girls in the church nursery took it out of the bag and didn't put it back or tell us so it was left behind. Also, when we dropped Alisa off, the girls didn't ask if she would need to eat and we didn't think to tell them that she would NOT need a bottle (we usuallly tell them but we were out of practice because she hasn't been to church in several weeks and I guess I assumed they would realize she didn't if we didn't specifically say that she did). Well, when Alisa started crying 10 minutes before the end of the service they tried a few things (probably the teething ring) and made her a bottle with the stuff that was in our diaper bag (it's always there just in case). She didn't want the bottle because she wasn't hungry, she was just tired, I think, because she fell asleep right away in the car. So, that was formula for a 6-oz bottle down the drain (because you have to dump any leftovers an hour after she puts her mouth to it).

I bought a large box of baby wipes yesterday (8 packs in it, I think) and realized today that they didn't make it home. Craig helped unload the groceries from the car so I didn't notice it then. I bought them at Wal-Mart and usually I load the groceries in the cart from the spinning bag holder as the cashier fills the bags, but this time there was an extra person at the register who was bagging the items. She loaded the cart and I didn't pay close attention. I did glance at the bag holder before walking away and I didn't notice a large box sitting on top so the cashier must have put it in a bag and it was overlooked. Dangit! There goes $12 down the drain.

Another disappointment of the weekend was that I made a large purchase at a scrapbooking store yesterday and the girl who rang up my stuff didn't mention that they have a frequent buyers club (it was my 1st time there). I went back to the store today to get a few more things and the girl there today mentioned the club, signed me up and said I will get 15% off after every $150 I spend, plus other coupons throughout the year. I would have gotten 15% off today if that other girl would have signed me up yesterday (the girl today said she couldn't add in my purchase from yesterday for the discount tally)! I would have saved more than $10. Phooey!

Stupid Bank Fees

We were charged a $5 maintenance fee on our savings account this month at Bank of America. I check my transactions online every few days and as soon as I saw that erroneous charge I called the bank. The guy who answered said he couldn't refund it and he gave me the number of the people who could. Turned out to be the 800 number on the back of my debit card. It was an automated system and I was getting nowhere in trying to get to an actual person. After many minutes of listening to options and pushing buttons, my call was disconnected prematurely. That made me mad! I asked Craig if he could watch Alisa and I raced out the door to go to the bank in person. They closed in 15 minutes so I had to hurry. (Another thing I hate is that the lobby closes at 4 PM).

I was waiting in line when the greeter lady asked if anyone had a transaction not involving cash. I did because I just was depositing some checks and asking for a refund on that stupid fee. She said she could help me at the customer service desk so I went there with her. She gave me a receipt for the deposit and then looked at the issue about the fee. She said we were charged a fee because we didn't make a deposit to our savings account that month (a requirement for our account). I said that we had automatic deposit set up for the same day every month so that we would never be charged a maintenance fee and it had been fine like that for over a year. She looked closer and said our statement this month closed 1 day before the automatic deposit went through. I thought, "Now that's a dirty trick!" She said she' d go ahead and issue the refund this time as a courtesy to us. Oh geez, a courtesy...like we didn't deserve it and won't get it next time something funky like that happens. She ended up changing our account from a Custom Savings to a Regular Savings so that wouldn't happen again. She said the interest rates are the same but now we can make more than 1 withdrawal per month and won't be charged a maintenance fee as long as we have a balance of at least $300.

After all that was resolved, she got really excited and started telling me about a credit card offer that appeared on the computer screen. She acted like it was such a great card and great deal that that I would definitely want to get it. Craig and I have a joint account but when she clicked over on Craig's name he also had an offer, but it was slightly different so she was comparing the two. I almost laughed at her speech and attitude because she was so excited but I was not impressed at all. First of all, we already have 2 credit cards from them (used them for 0% balance transfers for a year and don't use them now but just haven't cancelled them yet) and we get offers all the time for more. How can one company/bank keep offering you more and more cards when you already have 2 of theirs?! (Her reason was that this card was better...that you earn reward points faster. Well that may be true, but if you are constantly seeking a better card then you'd be opening a new account every year and that is not good for your credit rating.) Second, the limit on these new offers was for $2,000 and $3,000 (we're used to $10,000 and $12,000). Third, the 0% interest rate was only for 6 months (we're used to 12-18 months with no transfer fees).

It stinks that Bank of America charges monthly maintenance fees to have a savings account (unless you meet special requirements) when the interest earned is so puny. I miss Tulsa Teachers Credit Union in Oklahoma. They never charged me fees and they had better hours. The best savings account I have found is with ING Direct (online account that can be linked to your local bank account) . I opened an account in 2003, and their interest rate has been mostly around 3-4% since then (that is AWESOME for a simple savings account!). There are no fees or required minimums on my account. I love it! (Note: If you want to open an ING savings account nowadays and have $250 to put in it, I can send you a link that will get you $25 free...just let me know).

Strange Feeling

I'm so used to being near Alisa that when Craig took her to the store with him a little while ago, I kept thinking she was napping in the next room and that I had forgotten to turn the baby monitor on. He has only taken her with him a few times so it is VERY rare for me to be at home without her. It was a strange feeling.

Alisa is ONE Year Old Today!!

It is hard to believe that Alisa is now ONE YEAR old! She survived her first year without any major mishaps. What an exciting--and tiring--year it has been...full of many new things for all of us!

Alisa's eyes are still blue so there's a good chance they will stay that way--hooray! I love blue eyes. My eyes and Craig's eyes are hazel (green with brown around the center, to be exact).

Alisa gained only 2 oz this month--she went from 21 lbs 11 oz to 21 lbs 13 oz. She grew about an inch taller, making her 29 1/2 inches. She is in the 50th-75th percentile (closer to 75th) for weight and height, which surprised me because she is so much chubbier than all the babies I've seen around town so I thought she was above the 75th. Her hair is longer with even more curls by her neck, but there's still not enough on top to put in a barrett or little pigtail. She has 4 teeth coming in at once on the top (with one further along than the rest). She helps us dress her by pushing her arms through the sleeves now.

She has been sleeping 11-12 1/2 hours each night and taking 2 naps (about 1-2 hours each). She has been protesting naps recently but usually only for 30 seconds, starting right after we put her in bed and are leaving the room. We put her on her back and she used to roll over right away and get comfy while sucking her thumb, but now she sits up right away and cries really hard and loudly.

She has enjoyed all the food we have given her--she didn't want a large amount of baby food in a sitting at the beginning of the month, but by the end of it she wanted a lot most of the time (even after an 8 oz bottle). She especially loves finger foods. We finally started feeding her some food from our plates (chicken, steak, tomatoes, sweet potato fries, tortillas, mashed potatoes, pasta, etc.) and she really enjoys that. I know she will now come begging for us to give her some of our food when she sees us eating it (just like our dog Minga does) since she's tasted the goodness. We will be introducing her to whole milk this week and make the switch away from formula and the bottle. She's learned how to drink water and juice from a sippy cup.

Alisa still pays attention to little details--she will find the smallest speck of dirt on a hard surface or piece of fuzz on the carpet and pick it up. She knows where certain foods and toys are kept so she points to them (or the area they are kept) when she wants them. If she sees an object she wants, she will often cry if she doesn't get to have it right then (oh boy).

This will be my last monthly post about Alisa. If you want to keep up with her happenings from now on, you can go directly to her website (which is updated frequently). The link to it is in the "links" section in the right-hand column on my main page, in case you hadn't noticed it before.



Alisa loves looking at and carrying this large card that Grandmom sent for Valentine's Day:











Standing on her own (3-13-08):



Mmmm, kiwi (3-17-08):











Alisa's favorite place to stand in the office (it's Minga's favorite place too so they are often both there side by side):



Walking practice (3-19-08):



She actually stayed asleep in her carseat when we brought it in the house and she even slept for another hour because we set it in her quiet room (3-21-08):



Her shirt says, "He's not just my Daddy, he's my hero!" (3-21-08...before Craig had his morning coffee):



Yes, she sometimes wears a dress (3-22-08):



Happy Easter (3-23-08):





She seemed afraid to put her leg in the grass because she kept it up in the air like this most of the time:







Last year's Easter basket from Grandmom:



New booster seat with toy tray, which is handy in restaurants when she's not eating (3-23-08):







Craig's friend Tory gave Alisa this funny pacifier (3-26-08):

























At Maclay Gardens, which is just up the road from our neighborhood (4-01-08):













First birthday! (4-07-08):









Lying by her many presents:



Birthday card and wrapped present from Nana (Alisa enjoyed the stickers on the wrapping):







Birthday dance with Daddy (a new tradition):

Girls Weekend Out

Alisa and I went to meet my old college roommate Courtney and her 5-month-old daughter Hayden in Macon, GA this past weekend. They live in Alabama and we wanted to meet halfway, but there isn't much of anything in the middle of Alabama so we looked into meeting in Georgia. I discovered that Macon is almost the same distance from both of us and they were having their annual Cherry Blossom Festival so we decided to meet there. Courtney reserved 2 nights at a Days Inn for all of us.



Alisa and I left Florida at noon and arrived in Macon just after 4 PM. I had to stop to feed Alisa and she really took her time drinking her bottle so it took us an hour longer to get there (I needed a restroom break too). Courtney and Hayden were already settled into the room when we got there so they helped us unload the many bags from our car. I brought more bags on this trip than any other because of Alisa and her stage in life--I brought her regular diaper bag, a bag of her food (baby food in jars, oatmeal in box, snacks in bags), a bag of her drinks and dishes (formula, bottles, bottle cleaning supplies, bowls, spoons), a bag with her CD player in it, a bag of her toys, a bag with her Pack 'N Play bed, a small suitcase for both of our clothes, a small ice chest, her large stroller, her new booster seat, and 2 baby carriers that strap on me (the hip hammock is a new one I got and it folds up small so I brought it in case I wanted to try it instead of the normal one). Unfortunately, our room was on the 2nd floor and the place didn't seem to have an elevator nearby so we made many trips up and down the stairs. Since Alisa had just met Courtney, I couldn't leave her in the room with her while I unloaded the car because she'd be really upset. So, we both carried stuff in one arm and our baby in the other arm.

Rain was predicted for Saturday so we decided to go downtown and check out the festival right away. We stayed for about 2 hours looking at the people, the rides, the many food vendors, the cherry blossom trees and the park. We ate some chicken fingers and fries for dinner and I thought the chicken fingers were excellent and certainly the best I've ever had at a place like that. We had to wait 8 minutes for them to cook so we knew they were fresh and hot. Yes, very hot--I gave Alisa some tiny pieces of the chicken and I kept burning my fingers trying to break the strips apart to cool them for her. We would have stayed a bit longer but the rain storm was about to hit and we wanted to get back to the hotel before it started. We got our lemonade and funnel cake to go.









We played with the babies in the hotel room, took pictures and talked till about midnight. I drank some Gatorade and it was so good I couldn't get enough of it (and I had just recently had a slushee and some lemonade so it's not like I was parched). I let Alisa crawl around on the bed until she fell asleep around 10:30 PM. If I had put her in bed at the normal time (9 PM) she would have cried to get out because she could still see us. I couldn't let her cry because she would wake Hayden, who has a difficult time staying asleep. I was able to put sleeping Alisa in her Pack 'N Play bed so I could get some sleep alone in the queen-size bed.







Much to our surprise, however, Courtney's cell phone made a loud noise around 4 AM because she had been sent text message. That woke Alisa up and she cried and seemed confused about where she was. I picked her up quickly to quiet her. I put her music on and rocked her in my arms to get her to fall back asleep. I figured it would take 20 minutes max...boy, was I wrong. That little stinker stayed awake for 2 hours! My arms and back started hurting from standing and swaying with her so I layed down on the bed and cuddled her on my chest. She laid her head down and was sucking her thumb for awhile like she was going to go to sleep but then she picked her head up and was wide awake. She crawled around on the bed and me and started talking, playing and giving me kisses. She frequently looked over at the bed Courtney and Hayden were on--it was too dark to see them but she knew they were there. She was being so super cute and silly but I had to refrain from laughing and playing with her because she needed to go back to sleep since it was only about 5 AM and I was tired.

I tried to put her back in her bed a couple of times when it seemed that she had drifted off to sleep but she screamed as soon as I did. I had to take her back to bed with me to keep her quiet. I love snuggling with her but didn't want her sleeping in bed with me because I was afraid she'd fall off the bed and hurt herself with all the movement she does at night. And I wouldn't be able to get in the shower in the morning before she woke up because she would likely wake up while I was in there and start crying and crawl off the bed. We ended up sleeping till about 10 AM and I managed to get a shower while Courtney played with the babies.

It rained off and on all day Saturday so the festival events were cancelled. I was bummed about that because I wanted to eat some international foods and see the arts and crafts, fireworks, etc. We got lunch at Chick Fil-A on the way to the mall and ate it in the car while the babies slept--it was the tastiest it's ever been for me. We spent about 5 hours at the mall pushing the babies in strollers, shopping, feeding the babies and changing their diapers and shopping some more. There was a great store there called Steve & Barry's. Everything there was $8.98 or less and it was a huge place with all kinds of stuff--shirts, shorts, jeans, nice pants, skirts, backpacks, coats, shoes, etc. Nothing I tried on fit me right so I didn't get anything for me, but I bought some t-shirts for Craig and pants for Alisa.

The babies did pretty well, though Alisa started crying when Courtney and I were laughing in the photo booth at the end of the photo session of the babies. She was tired and overreacted to our loud laughing. A while later she screamed her head off while I changed her diaper. We were about to leave and didn't want to walk all the way to the restroom which was far away (Alisa freaks out when I put her on the changing table in public restrooms anyway) so I changed her in the stroller in the deserted hallway. I wanted to change her outside because she likes being outside, but it was raining and that exit didn't have much of a covering so we would have gotten wet. Anyway, I hated that whole event and will not ever do that again. People did start walking by and were probably wondering what I was doing to my baby because she was screaming so loudly and squirming so badly, which only made the whole ordeal last longer. She is difficult when tired. I should have changed her in the stroller in a quieter department store bathroom but I didn't think of that then.

Hayden was dozing off in the car on the way to get dinner so we went to the drive-thru at Zaxby's. Alisa started crying because she was tired of being strapped into a seat all day (stroller and carseat). I offered her some Cheerios because it was getting close to her dinner time but she didn't want any. She cried and woke Hayden who then cried. The cries escalated as they both upset each other with their crying. Hayden's cries turned into loud high-pitched scream-crying, which Courtney said she hadn't heard before. There were only 2 or 3 cars ahead of us in the drive-thru line but it took forever to get our food. The girls hardly stopped to take a breath for at least 20 minutes. It was bad, real bad. During the middle of it all, when we knew there was nothing we could do but hurry back to the hotel as soon as we were out of the drive-thru line, Courtney and I started laughing to relieve our stress. We took some videos of the screaming girls. Then, we finally had our food in hand and raced back to the hotel. The girls stopped crying as soon as they were out of their carseats.

It was then time for Alisa to eat so I made her a bottle and she drank it on my lap while I ate my food. It was the best Zaxby's chicken strips and fries I have ever had (that seems to be the theme of the weekend--all the food was especially good). I gave Alisa some bits of chicken and toast after she finished her bottle because she was still hungry. We once again played with the babies in the hotel room (I remembered that I had brought glow sticks for them to play with), took pictures, talked till about 11:30 PM and watched TV. There was a show on about parenting multiples and they had babies in events like a diaper derby, finger painting contest and eating contest. It was fun to watch.

That night I was able to put Alisa in bed before 10 PM and before she was totally asleep. I put her music on repeat so it would block out the noise of the many trains that kept coming through the area. She slept until 6:30 AM when she woke up crying. I think she was cold or something because I didn't hear any loud noises this time. I let her sleep in bed with me and didn't even try to put her back in her bed. We slept till 9 AM Sunday morning and then loaded up the cars and said our goodbyes. I was so hot and sweaty from loading the car and from standing in the hotel office to pay my portion of the bill because the room was like a sauna. Ugh. What a way to begin the drive home.

Alisa slept for an hour and 45 minutes during the drive home. It took 4 hours to get home because I had to stop to feed Alisa (since we didn't leave immediately after she ate breakfast). I wasn't in a hurry so I didn't mind--the stopping time doesn't bother me like the driving time does (I get tired and sore from driving, not from food/bathroom breaks). As I was feeding Alisa, I noticed that her pants were wet. I realized I had forgotten to change her diaper right before leaving, but she had only been in it for a few hours so it shouldn't have leaked (she can go all night without leaking). I didn't want to change her inside Taco Bell, I didn't want to take the stroller out of the trunk because it was partially buried and I can't change her on the seats in the car anymore because she getting so big and her carseat is in the middle...so I opted to change her on the trunk of the car because it's spacious and flat. I didn't want her to squirm and try to roll over while I was changing her because I could smell that she had pooped too, so I decided to change her while she was still drinking her bottle. I got out of the front seat with her still leaning back on my left arm and shoulder drinking her bottle and squatted by the back seat to get the diaper changing supplies out. Then I carried her back by the trunk and spread out the changing pad and laid her on it. The plan was awkward at first (since I carried her so she could keep drinking during the setup time too) but it worked like a charm because she was happily distracted by her bottle and didn't squirm at all during the diaper change. She finished drinking it as I put the stuff away and sat back in the front seat. Then I needed to go to the bathroom. I just got her a new big girl carseat so I didn't have the luxury of her infant carrier carseat where I could have carried her into the bathroom in that and set it on the floor without her touching the floor. And again, the stroller was buried so I didn't want to pull that out to put her in it. I ended up strapping on the baby carrier and putting her in that because even though it was awkward using the toilet with her strapped to my front, it was better than trying to hold her by myself or having her sit on the dirty bathroom floor (I knew she wouldn't stand up the whole time). Oh, the things we moms do with/for our children!

Alisa started getting fussy during the last half hour of driving, as she did on the way to Macon. We made it home though, safe and sound. It was a fun weekend in spite of the baby crying episodes and it was so good to see Courtney again and meet baby Hayden. I think we will plan to meet up again next year or sooner.