Solid Food - Yum Yum!

You wouldn't believe how much the tomatoes enjoy their food. They love solids! Today we started oatmeal - Jackson is in love! He ate and ate the oatmeal until it was gone. It was adorable! He's generally cranky during the morning snack because he's getting ready for his nap, but today he was all about the oatmeal. Little cutie.

Good news? or Bad news?

Good and bad day. Tabitha was especially adorable during her awake periods but terribly fussy during her naps. She was overtired and kept waking at the 45 minute mark. I think she'll sleep better tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it.

Jackson had an extreme day. Despite his old issues with eating he's been doing especially well since beginning solids. He eats in a more relaxed manner and protests the bottle less, until this week. He's getting more opinionated and seems to be figuring out his autonomy. It's exciting to see his brain working so well and frustrating to experience his levels of autonomy. Right now what can he control? He's seven months old, has rolled over but doesn't seem to remember how, Roger and Sara have yet to see him do it, he eats, he sleeps, he poops. Pretty much he can control when he sleeps, how he sleeps, what and how much he eats and when he poops. Obviously he can choose when to be social, as he showed with his response to my being away, when he cries, laughs, smiles etc. But these are things most people realize right away. What I'm getting at is that Jackson is controlling his food intake, bottles mostly. Yesterday he showed us two extremes, early bottle, with Roger and Sara, he only took 60 mL, opposed to his regular 160 mL. The next bottle, my first of the day with him, he took 250 mL! Neither he nor Tabitha has ever taken that much. It was shocking! Then the following bottle he completely refused. I tried for thirty minutes, he'd take the nipple into his mouth and chew on it. Maybe, maybe 10 mL dribbled down his chin, maybe. The crazy part was his attitude, he wasn't uncomfortable or angry or even annoyed, he was happy, sweet and smiley - but not overly so that he was choosing social over eating.

Each time I'd try again he'd kind of whine at me as if to say, "Really? I really don't want it. I appreciate the offer." Of course after that nap he was hungry and extremely sensitive. Poor guy. He chugged down his snack bottle and ate solids like an addict, an adorable addict, but an addict nonetheless.

Roger and Sara are really growing as parents. They agree that he may not be hungry or is just becoming more opinionated. They aren't stressed or anxious which is awesome and wonderful. Next week he'll visit the GI again and we'll know if he needs his pr.losec increased, he's definitely grown.

Speaking of growing - you wouldn't recognize Tabitha! Her had has gotten rounder, she's darling! Huge, chubby cheeks, massive hamhocks and sparkling eyes. She smiles all of the time. It is great, they are truly thriving.

Drama Summarized

It's surprising to me that so early into the new year there are folks out there looking to start trouble. But it is a year, just like last year and folks will do what they do. Because of one or two women there has been a change in my blog. I've removed all of the photos, two unbelievably cute babies made them very uncomfortable. I'll still have these photos online so if you are a regular reader just drop me an email and I'll let you know where to find them (per Norah's suggestion, thank you Norah, you are right, most people really enjoy the daily photos with their updates).

Different perspectives are appreciated; disrespect, threats and hostility are not. While my opinions may not be the same as yours, when I disagree with Roger and Sara my blog gives me an opportunity to collect my thoughts, step outside of my emotions and review the situation(Aha!). So if my thoughts seem frustrated at times or emotion-laden and hastily collected this blog is not the extent of my expression. My blog is in no way a secret, hateful critique of Roger and Sara that I use to mask my actual feelings. I talk with them about each and every issue that arises and we each trust one another completely. Our relationship is built on honesty the same way I've built this blog. It is possible this honesty makes some uncomfortable, the reader may have felt personally critiqued by my use of general terms. The use of these general terms and nicknames may have also portrayed a feeling of secrecy and collusion. Neither of which I could have predicted nor expected. Shattering these feelings and aiding in separation, I've replaced my general terms with specific names.

Whether or not it has come across I've really appreciated this bit of excitement on my blog. It has increased my daily viewers, something I couldn't figure out how to do, opened different perspectives and given me the opportunity to read through my old posts, make connections, tie up lose ends and increase my dedication to this endeavor. Oddly enough it has also brought in more than a few job offers from other preemie parents. So thank you Aimee (at bad mummy dot com, interesting perspective of self) and Bree, you've really started something great here for me!

Roll While You Play! She can do it alll day...

Just roll while you play
Push up that tummy and turn like it's funny to roll far and wide
Just roll over now
Just do your best and take a rest and roll to on your side

When there's too much to do
Don't let it bother you, forget your troubles,
Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee

And roll while you play
Come on get smart, gear up and start
To roll while you play

You guessed it! Tabitha rolled over today for Roger and Sara! They said she rolled and rolled and rolled (in between rolls they turned her back to her tummy so each time was from tummy to back over her left shoulder)! Hooray for Tabitha!

(yes, her song is shorter than Jackson's was, but it took more work and I haven't actually seen her do it yet so I'm singing off of Roger and Sara's excitement rather than my own this time!)

Perplexing and Frustrating

Again today I've had a huge number of visitors, sadly they've come bringing negative comments and threatening voices.

It is frustrating to have visitors come to complain. This is my blog, it is out there for me to vent, try to see things differently and to help nannies be acknowledged as people not indentured servants as so many families think the should be. Being a nanny can be very isolating and knowing there are others out there experiencing the same things helps more than some can understand. A nanny pal put it more eloquently,
"It is great to know that I am not the only nanny on Earth who has issues with tricky parents even though I am lucky not to have such issues right now."

I'm going to let this go and see how things play out I will definitely keep you posted.