I'm a coffee drinker

I have taken to drinking coffee. I had quit for several years since it seemed to hurt my stomach and may have been linked to my migraines. But I have convinced myself I can't function without a morning cup of joe...jazzed up, sugared up cappuccino. Even though Naomi has still been sleeping through most nights (which is so fabulous), I can't seem to get to bed on time and/or I am so exhausted when it is time for Naomi to wake up for breakfast. Seven in the morning comes so early. It's really not so bad, but I have spent a couple years working a very erratic work schedule and attending classes at odd hours. I used to love mornings and now, I like to sleep until at least 10. So, now I need my coffee. I'm not even sure it helps, but I insist on drinking it anyway.

Outside of my new coffee fetish, I have been trying to eat healthier. Cut out soda. Drink more water. Eat more fruits and veggies. Eat breakfast and smaller portions. Plus exercise. On top of just wanting to have more energy and relieve stress, I swear I still look five months preggers, so I have to get in the gym. It's so frustrating because I weigh less than I did before, but my stomach is all out of wack. I should be exercising right now.

Today, I let Naomi go swimming. She got all suited up, and we splashed around in the baby pool on the porch. It was too hot to sit her out in the sun. It was so fun. She is getting big. She will be 9 months old next week, but she looks much older than that. She looks like a toddler, especially when she is attempting to stand on her own. Oh, what fun times.

It's a family thing

The last few months have been rough without consistent child care, but I am so thankful for my family who have been helping to watch Naomi while Robbie and I go to work. They have been such a huge help. I am sure I have been abusing my poor sister who recently graduating and is "looking" for a job. She has been recruited to watch Naomi on a variety of days because she is the only one who isn't working or ill. So instead of working on her graduate school apps and hang out during the summer she is keeping Naomi out of trouble and changing diapers (he he.) Yeah, so my family is pretty cool. But at the end of the month we should have something permanent. Yay!! And finally!!

Home buyer's education class Friday. So excited. I have been browsing Zillow just to see what's out there. The class is free and is a one time class. Let me know if you are interested in learning more. 

I haven't mentioned this, but Naomi's eczema is a lot better. She isn't scratching anymore and it's not dry and cracking like before. That $90 cream, which somehow came out to be $45, really helped. Things are going pretty well. She's still doing well with her food, too: bananas, blueberries, apples and lots of mixtures like apples and squash. 

Social butterfly

Naomi is our little social butterfly. People always tell us how wonderful she is, that she never cries and that she is so cute. It helps that she goes to pretty much everyone and smile and laughs with anyone who will share her joy. I'm not saying all this to brag. But I'm excited that my little one has such wonderful social skills and that she is a "good" baby. I hope she continues to be confident and loving toward people and that people see beauty in her. 

She is still sleeping through the night, and is even crying less. Now that we are passed the initial phase of putting her in the bed and letting her cry it out, I am able to rock her a little and rub her back before putting her in the crib sleepy, but awake. Then, she quietly drifts off to the sleep. I'm still so happy that she is getting rest. It really has been such a blessing for her to start sleeping through the night. We functioning better as a family, and things don't seem as difficult. They run a bit more smoothly and happily. Now, if only I could get to bed at a decent hour. See, instead of going to bed early now that Naomi is resting, I stay up until 2 a.m. or so surfing the Web, watching TV or just thinking about stuff. Check the time stamp. I really got a do better because I still have to wake up at 6 or 7 to feed Naomi breakfast. One day, I'll start eating breakfast, too.  

But I really do need to go ahead and go to bed right now because we have a graduation in the morning. My friend graduates from pharmacy school. How exciting!

To be free

Even babies don't like people encroaching on their freedom. Last week, I put up a safety gate between the living room and the kitchen. Naomi immediately came up and studied the gate, knocking on it and staring at it, trying to figure out how she could get through. It kept her out of the kitchen--for a while. But the sides of the gate were poorly constructed and the next day she knocked and knocked until she knocked it down. She crawled right in despite my earnest efforts to keep her out. There's really nothing for her to play with in there and the kitchen floor is one place that I'm never really sure is clean. So that gate got taken back to the store. But we haven't gotten a new one.

A few days later, I tried to "trap" her in her room. She seems fascinated with an old floor vent in the hallway. Again, I do not know what is so fascinating about it, especially when she has dozens of colorful, musical toys in her room. The old vent does nothing. It's old, dusty and has holes that I seem no point in her playing with. So I tried to keep her playing in her room by putting two ottomans in the doorway. She waits until I go a few yards away to the bathroom, then comes up and bangs on the ottomans trying to get out. She was playing nicely until she felt her freedom disappear from the room.  She got so flustered by the trappings that I had to pick her up and just remove the ottomans. ... I know why the caged bird sings...

Home sweet home

I think it's the desire of every person to have a home of their own, or at least a place to call home. I have really been wanting to buy a house. So we can stop renting and have a place that we are investing in. So we can decorate the way we want. So we will have a place that will just be ours (and the banks of course.) And that $8,000 tax credit isn't too bad either. 

We briefly started looking at houses last spring, but decided to wait until we had more money for the monthly mortgage and the down payment and closing costs. I'm sad to say, but we have not made much progress on saving for these things. We have saved some, but with the recession and mounting medical bills and other costs, it is difficult to save much. So, I have again started looking at home buying information. This time I've been focusing on how we can roll the down payment in or find first-time home buyer grants. It's all very confusing. There are a lot of logistics and terminology that I don't really understand. And I'm not sure if we should continue waiting or go ahead and buy (again that $8,000 is really attractive and would allow us to pay off those other bills.)

I would say perhaps we could buy a cheaper, basic house right now and just stay there for a few years. However, we are not buy one house move to a bigger house later people. We are buy one house that we really love and stay there until we die or have to move people. Plus, my number one concern with where we buy a house is what school district it is in. I applaud Oklahoma City Public Schools in what headway it has made in improving its schools, but no offense, I still do not want my daughter to go there. 

Anywhere, we are signed up to take a home buyer's education class, so we will see how it goes.