Rachel keeps learning

Rachel's new words this week include: jump, bounce, snuggle, couch, Farkle (that's a game we were given for Christmas), triangle, circle, square.

Not sure if you can hear her say 'bounce' in this video, but I think you can hear her say 'oh no!' as she cleans up her mess.

She is learning things so fast!  A few weeks ago she struggled to force her shapes into her shape sorter.  Now she can identify each shape and place each one in its designated whole quite well.  She is also now identifying triangles and circles when we happen to see them in books or out and about.  She has triangle shapes on her cup we didn't notice, the hazards button on the dash of the car is a triangle, and the shower curtain has circles all over it.  It's pretty fun to see things through her eyes.

Daddy goes out for run while Mommy and Rachel get ready to hike

Hiking with view of the Flatirons

Rachel helps Daddy clean up after the wind storm

The weather here has been all over the place.  Cold and snowy, then warm and muddy.  Today is was 65 degrees and we went out hiking.  Last week we had a huge wind storm and more branches came down all over the place.  Here's a video of Rachel playing outside in the wind, trying to figure out why her toboggan will not work.

Jason is away at a conference with his students in Colorado Springs for the next 3 nights.  Thursday (March 1st) I will start my first day of work, and Friday I'm heading to Vegas for 3 nights without Rachel.  This will be the first night I've spent without Rachel, and I'm very excited but glad I'll have great company to stop me from missing her too much!

Daycare begins

Last weekend we were lucky enough to host our cousin Kelsey, who we are hoping will be moving to Boulder this summer!

Rachel started her first day of real daycare on Monday.  She is attending a place in Boulder, close to the house we are renting, so both Jason and I have access to pick her up or drop her off without needing the car.  She will attend Mon, Wed, Thurs, and Fri full days until the middle of March when she can also go on Tuesdays.

Monday happened to be President's Day... one of those holidays that half the people celebrate and half do not.  Jason had the day off but daycare was open.  So we decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity and drop Rachel off and then go skiing together at Keystone.  Rachel did fine and we enjoyed skiing in the new snow and cold wind.

On Monday I also officially accepted a job at Altitude Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine.  We are still negotiating a start date, but I will start sometime in March with 20 hours a week and work up to about 32-35 hours per week as I build up my caseload.  I'm very excited and cannot wait to get going.

Rachel has been quite clingy lately again and wanting lots of extra snuggle time.  She is done with breast milk, although she keeps trying to ask for it and is frustrated with me when she is offered whole milk instead.  She has not had a nap in her crib at home in the last 2 weeks.  I'm not sure what is going on there.  She will nap in the car, in her stroller, in the backpack, at daycare... but at home in the crib she cries 'mamma mamma mamma' over and over again.  I've let her do this for up to an hour at a time several times and she won't give in and go to sleep.

This morning Rachel was not happy to go to daycare, which we call 'school' for her.  She knew I would be leaving her and clung to me and cried and cried when I left.  It was tough.  I have the morning to myself and had a fantastic workout at the gym and will run errands before picking her up at lunch.  I hope to have a daycare routine in place nicely and have Rachel used to these new routines before I start work.

One of our goals in weaning Rachel was to hope for a longer sleep in.  Rachel used to wake at 4:30am every morning, nurse, and go back to bed until about 6am.  I would say weaning has not changed the picture too much.  She usually stirs at about 4:45am and we let her cry until 5:20am when Jason wakes for work anyway, and then we start our day.  Occasionally she has put herself back to sleep for an extra 20 min or so.  So it seems we are resolved to sleep from 9:30pm until 5am and hope that Rachel sleeps from 7:30pm until 5am.

One last story.  On Tuesday a group of moms organized a child sharing set up where 4 babies and 2 moms gathered at one house so 2 other moms could go ski.  We carted all our things to the house, got the kids settled, and my friend Maggie and I left to go ski at our local mountain Eldora. It was cold and windy and we haven't had much snow lately, but a morning without kids must be taken advantage of.  However, the wind was so bad at the hill that the chairs were closed, so Maggie and I had a cup of tea and a chat and then drove back to the kids.  Next week, Maggie and I will babysit the 4 kids so the other 2 moms can take a turn.  Let's hope they have more luck!  Here is Rachel with her other 3 friends and one of the moms.

16 months

Rachel is growing so fast!  Everyone said it would happen, and people continue to remind us daily... but there she goes.  Running, climbing, dancing, giggling, talking, and learning so many new things.  She's 16 months old going on 2 years old.

When I say growing, I mean getting older, not actually growing.  She weighs 19lbs, 8 oz. and measures at the 3rd percentile for weight.  This is despite eating 5 solid meals throughout the day, drinking whole milk and snacking frequently.  Here's an idea of some of the things she ate today: 2 sausages, 1 avocado, half a peach, 1/3 banana, 15 cherry tomatoes, 20 blueberries, 3/4 cup yogurt, 1 poached egg, 2 thick slices cheese, 2 Tablespoons peanut butter, 1/3 large tortilla, green beans, 1 carrot, cheerios, a few bites of bagel, probably 2.5 cups of whole milk, breastmilk before bed, and a 99g pack of apple/carrot puree.

When she's not eating, she's talking.  The doctor at her check up today asked me how many words she says.  I guessed around 30 or 40 words that both Jason and I could understand.  It is hard to know what you should count as a real word.  Does 'baaa baa' count as sheep?  Does 'Nana' or 'Tee-Tee' or 'Cooper' count as names?  Does 'Ray-Ray' which is what she calls herself?  So I actually started a list tonight of all the words I think Rachel can say on her own when labeling something, and I have 128 words down.  Some are a stretch, like 'camera' is 'ka-ka' and colour is also 'ka-ka'.  But this is not including things that she'll just repeat when you say it, like when Daddy tries to get her to say beautiful and she says 'bu-full'.  I also decided that signing snake and saying 'SSSSSsssss' is not actually a word, but I did give her credit for 'Pen-Pen' which is penguin.  Favorite words on the list include 'boogers', 'fox', 'octopus', 'backpack', 'ski', 'driving', and 'read'.  Every day she comes up with more and it's definitely the most exciting thing going on around here.

Weaning away the morning feed has gone well.  She responded much better to it that I anticipated.  I had one uncomfortable day on Sat after a date Fri night, which meant missing a night and a morning feed.  I'm not ready to comment on the sleep pattern part of this, since we've had a little bit of everything in the sleep department in the last couple of weeks.  The goal is to have her sleep from 7:30pm-5:30am straight.

Date Friday night was awesome.  We loved our sitter and she did really well putting Rachel down to bed.  We had a very nice time looking for houses, skating on the outdoor rink, and having fondue.  Yummy!!!

Sunday we went on a nice snowshoe in Rocky Mtn National Park to Bierstadt Lake.  

Rachel is officially signed up for daycare and will start on Monday Feb 20th, doing half days next week with the goal of doing 4 full days the week after.  We chose a daycare close to our house for now, but she is also on a waitlist for one we really like in Louisville.

4:21

This post is mostly about nursing, weaning, and sleeping, so don't read it if you are not comfortable with those things.

4:21 has some significance in the MOJO family.  First, Jason and I were married on April 21.  In our dorky way, when we see 4:21 on the clock we use it as an excuse to get in a quick smooch and celebrate our anniversary (I know, I know, we're losers).

When I was pregnant with Rachel, even in the first few days of pregnancy, I was woken up at about 4am and had trouble going back to sleep.  I even took my pregnancy test to confirm that I was pregnant with her just after 4am, and we had a little party celebrating the positive test at 4:21am.  This was the end of any hope I ever had of being a late night party girl.  Throughout my whole pregnancy, which was a good one, Rachel the baby continued to wake me up early.

Now Rachel is almost 16 months old.  She is often awake at 4:21am.  This is our biggest sleep issue and source of frustration at our house.  It feels like we've tired many things, but we just can't seem to convince her that the day should start later than that.  We've put her to bed later.  We've put her to bed earlier.  We've let her cry in her room for an hour or more at a time many, many times.  She even manages to do this when we're in different time zones.  So our time zone has shifted to sleep early and wake early.

On a good night, we go to bed at about 9:30pm.  Rachel often sleeps through until sometime between 4:20 and 4:45am and I get up and nurse her.  (Jason thinks the 'sleeping through' only happens 1/3 nights but I think and hope it's more often than that.)  I don't feed her during other night wakings but I do feed her for this one because we can then go back to sleep for a little bit.  Jason gets up for work at 5:20am.  Rachel will often sleep again until 6am or 6:30am.  I often nurse her again here, and then again before bed.  She still wants an afternoon nursing session, but we gave this up over Christmas holidays and she's still not quite accepting it.

Sidetrack: (Cuteness note) when we go into Rachel's room at the 6am wake up, she says the following words: 'NuNu', 'Bear', 'Baby', 'Mama', 'Dadda, 'Milk', and then either 'Book' or 'PLAY!!!' as she's diving out of our arms toward some toy.  Her favorite toys right now include playing dress up and stacking a tower.  I'm pretty proud that she can build a tower of 5 blocks all by herself.

Rachel has about 30 min quiet time in the morning around 7:30 or 8am and then naps for about 60-90 min in the afternoon.  She goes to bed at 7:30pm.  I am jealous of those other moms who tell me their baby sleeps for 12 hours solid every night and naps for at least 2 hours every day.  I also know other parents who wake many times a night, and know that we are somewhere in the middle.  Two nights ago, Rachel was up a few times and she cried from 3:30am-4:45am before I gave in and nursed her.

So... what happens next?  Our next project with Rachel is weaning her from the breast.  I have mixed feelings about this as I enjoy nursing her, I know she still wants to nurse frequently, and I believe that it's good for her.  But I'm going away in March and starting work soon.  She won't take a bottle anymore.  The recommendation is to slowly remove one feeding at a time when life is stable and no major changes are happening.  To me, that means I had better do this now since we're relatively stable right now and I'd like her to be completely off breast milk by the time I go to Vegas March 2nd.  That will be my first night ever without Rachel and I'd like it not to be too horrible for Jason, for Rachel, or for me!

So starting Saturday, I will remove morning feeds and continue to nurse Rachel only at bedtime.  Our hope is to do this for one week before then taking away the bedtime feed, and no longer nurse at all.  We are starting this on a weekend with no major plans as we expect this to me waking up at 4:21am from now on... although we hope, in the long run, Rachel will learn to sleep longer each morning and let us return to normal adult sleep schedules.

We will keep you posted on how we do!

Identity Paperwork

Moving to a new country is a process full of paperwork.  Jason did it all in 2006/2007 when he moved to Canada.  I started this process last July and it will continue for a while yet.

When I was at home in BC last month, I got my driver's license renewed because it will expire in April and I will not be there.  I also got passport pictures done and plan to renew my Canadian passport since it will expire in October.

Here is the (longwinded, sorry) summary of my last few days in Boulder... scrambled as they have been.

FRIDAY: I presented myself to Customs and Immigration with my I-94, authorization to work and authorization to travel documents.  This went smoothly.

MONDAY morning I had two tasks in town: get a Colorado Driver's License and get a Social Security Number.  I need the former in order to make our car insurance renewable.  I need the latter in order to work and to open any bank accounts.  The DMV opened at 8am and the SS office opened at 9am.

DMV visit #1: 7:20am: pack Rachel up and drive her in the cold and snow to the office.  Drive around looking for the office for many minutes before realizing it is inside the dingy little mall with no government office markings whatsoever.  Arrive at 8:05am behind a few people.  Go to counter when my number is called, start the process, take the vision screening test, yes I want to be an organ donor, verify all my ID and my address.  Am I willing to surrender my BC license that I just paid $75 to renew or would I like to schedule a written driver's test and road test in CO?  I'll surrender the BC license and kick myself for bothering to renew it.  Do I have a SSN?  No, stop.  No, I don't have a social security number.  That office doesn't open until 9am.
"Sorry ma'am.  Next. Number 484"
8:25am.

SS visit #1: Pack Rachel in car with blankets, coats, hat, gloves, books, ID flowing all around me.  Drive to SS office.  Many people are waiting in their cars as the office opens at 9:00am.  Rachel and I are singing songs.  At 8:43am, a lady goes to front door and waits.  By 8:45am, nine other people are in line and I'm scrambling to get Rachel out of her carseat.  Can't find my wallet!  Oh no!  (Rachel repeats 'Oh No!').  Did I leave it at DMV?  Shoot!!!  It's got my new BC license, Canadian passport, birth certificate, I-94 card, all my other cards... NO NO NO!  And then I looked on the roof.  There was my frozen wallet, safely tucked away under my roof rack covered in ice but safe.  Must have put it up there in my scramble to load Rachel into her carseat after the DMV.  So, we grab the wallet, bundle Rachel up, and stand in line outside for 15 min.  We count the cars in the parking lot 30 times and sing loads of songs loudly to annoy the others in line. 9:00am We go in, we take a number, we wait.  We get called, we fill out forms, we answer questions, Rachel empties my wallet all over the office, we complete the process.  The card will be mailed to me in 2 weeks.  If I want the number sooner, I can come back tomorrow and they can tell me the number.  (Hey social security, seems like an easy thing to do on-line and save time and manpower, no?!)

TUESDAY
SS visit #2: Tuesday morning, 8:20am, leave house in snow, drive 10mph to office.  Arrive at 9:00am due to slow snow conditions, enter, take a number.  Wait.  Read books to Rachel.  Rescue Rachel from running past security guard 10 times.  Eventually get called to counter.  Given number.  Leave.

Tuesday after SS visit, Rachel was dropped off at daycare so I could attend an interview for a while.  She did so well saying goodbye that I thought I might have time to go to the DMV before my interview.

DMV visit #2: Doesn't look too busy.  Get number.  Wait patiently in a chair by myself without having to read books or entertain Rachel.  Go to counter when my number is called, start the process, take the vision screening test, yes I want to be an organ donor, verify all my ID and my address, yes I have a SSN, yes, yes, yes... no I don't have cash to pay.  I only have a credit card.  That's great that there's an ATM in the mall but I don't have a debit card because I can't open a bank account in this country yet because I only just got my social security number.  No I don't have a check book.
"Sorry ma'am.  Next. Number 893."

Go to interview (in Longmont), drive to Jason's school (in Lafayette), get cash from him, drive back to DMV (in Boulder).

DMV visit #3: too busy.  No way I'll get to the counter before I have to pick up Rachel.  Give up and leave.

Drive to daycare.  Pick up Rachel.  Rachel did great at daycare.  Yay!

WEDNESDAY
Jason has the car for a meeting in the morning, comes home at 8:45am and we drive him to school.  Drop him off, drive to the DMV.  Rachel falls asleep in car.  Sit in parking lot at DMV for almost an hour while Rachel sleeps before I start making noises in hopes to wake her up.  10:15am go in.

DMV visit #4: Doesn't look too busy.  Get number.  Sit in chair, read books, Rachel waves to everyone in office and wants to run around.  Go to counter when my number is called, start the process, take the vision screening test, yes I want to be an organ donor, verify all my ID and my address, yes I have a SSN, yes, yes, yes... yes I have cash.  Rachel plays with vision screening equipment and I get dirty looks.  We pass this part of the process and are told to sit back down and wait for the picture taker to be ready.  It looks like about 10 people are in front of us there.  Rachel wants to run around.  Entertain Rachel.  Finally get called, go to counter holding coats, gloves, hat, wallet, book.  Answer same questions.  Show ID again.  Rachel complains and wants to run around.  Time to take my picture.  I put all our stuff on the floor and hold Rachel at my waist so she won't be in the picture.  I'm wearing a hoodie.  Not allowed to wear a hoodie.  Must put Rachel down to take off hoodie.  Rachel runs.  Helpful saint of a lady grabs Rachel, holds her, asks if she can help by holding Rachel while I get my picture taken.  I thank her.  I smile for my picture.  I receive my BC driver's license back with a hold punched through it because it's now 'on hold' and my Colorado driver's license will come in the mail in the next two weeks.  Return to car, put Rachel in car seat, make sure I have my wallet, drive to grocery store.

Winter Weekend Feb 4/5

See pictures from this weekend HERE

Rachel and I made it home to Denver Friday night without any delays, despite a huge winter storm Thurs and Fri.  Many planes were canceled flying in and out of Denver, but we were lucky.  So lucky, we even had a whole row on the plane to ourselves for Rachel to explore the seatbelts, arm rests, window shade, seat back tray, etc.  Jason had no school that day (his first snow day of the year) but picked us up and drove us home safely, arriving home at about 11pm.

Sat morning Rachel and I were thrilled to be home.  Rachel ran around the house pointing out long lost toys and items she had missed.  She was quite hyper and distracted with every new turn.

We went outside in the new 2 feet of snow to shovel.  Rachel enjoyed eating it but not walking in it.  She tried to help her Mommy shovel, and was frustrated when she couldn't do it.

Sat afternoon we went sledding, which was the first time we'd done more with Rachel on a sled than pull her along on flat ground.  We started off cautiously, but Rachel kept saying 'more! more!' and encouraged us to go further and faster, even after she had a face plant into fresh snow.  Three videos here show the progression from going slow to Rachel saying 'go!' and going faster.

Sunday morning we drove to Breckenridge and split our day in half.  While one person downhill skied, the other spent time with Rachel at the Breck nordic center cross country skiing with the chariot.  This proved to be an awesome way to work the day.  Each adult got exercise, time alone, play time with Rachel, and lunch together as a family.  Rachel had a nap after lunch in the chariot and could play at the playground.  Thanks to the Superbowl, the traffic coming home was easy, and it was a fantastic day.


 People always assume that, because I'm from Canada, that I must be used to snow.  This weekend was possibly the most snow I'd ever had, and it was an excitement and a shock after leaving sunny 60 degree Victoria.  The igloo at the Breck nordic center was also the first igloo I've ever seen!

BC Trip picts and videos

You should be able to look at pictures from the BC trip by clicking HERE

Trip summary:
- Visiting Nana, GG, Aunt Jocelyn and cousins in Duncan
- To Port Alberni to visit Andi and her girls
- To Victoria to visit Pops, Max the dog, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Janelle, cousins Teagan, Griffin, Cooper
- To Vancouver in snow to see friends / stayed with Steph and Damian
- To Victoria in snow to stay with Pops, attend Gran's funeral service, visit with Uncle Tony, Aunt Adrienne, cousins Ella and Benson, and friends
- Attended UVic Vikes field hockey alumni dinner and played indoor field hockey with alumni team, but power went out before the final and the end of the tournament was canceled.  Had SO much fun playing hockey again and realized how much I love it and miss it.  Was so thankful to family for watching Rachel during the games.
- Lots of visiting with Grandpa Hunt
- A fun activity at Pops' house was to play in the closet, close the sliding doors, and then get stuck inside the closet and call for help.  Rachel demonstrates here ability to open and close the sliding mirror doors in this video.

- Flew to Penticton, but had a tough time getting there since our plane from Vancouver turned around and headed back due to electrical problems.  Rachel did really well despite all the change.
- Jason had his Canadian citizenship ceremony in Kelowna
- Jason already posted on the rest of our visit in Penticton
- Here's Rachel giggling with Daddy in Penticton

- Flew home to Victoria and were making plans to go see our friend Tamsyn on Texada Island when my papers arrived at home in Boulder, so we were able to book a flight home.

Rachel and gear update

All being well this should be our last night in BC... despite the blizzard trying to scare us away from Colorado we hope to see Jason Friday night at the Denver Airport.

Being on the road so much lately, I thought I'd give an update about Rachel and her gear.

Rachel - the biggest change to Rachel is her language.  She will try to repeat almost anything you say now.  So lately she will say things like 'oh No!', 'oh Dear!', 'Ella', 'Grandpa', 'Cooper', 'Oh Jeez!', Uh-Oh', 'glasses', 'I don't know' (meshed into one word as she shrugs and looks concerned), and while hashing 'On-On'.  It's hilarious and we're really impressed by how fast she is learning.

Me Too - this is the Phil N Teds High Chair we bought at Thanksgiving.  We have found it light, portable, easy to fly/throw in the car/take anywhere.  We really like it and would recommend it... mostly.  The one big question is what kind of table it's going to be used on.  We've used it at many, many tables now but we've also been in situations where it didn't quite fit the table and didn't work.  In fact, I'm ashamed to admit that I tried to put it on a table last weekend that wasn't quite right and Rachel and the chair fell right down to the floor.  She was completely safe - had a surprise landing on her bottom - but it was scary and not something I ever want to happen again.  So it doesn't work on glass and it requires a table to have a fairly thin counter top / lip with room below to turn the clamp.  I can see that the lobster version may actually work on more surfaces, but I don't know that for sure.

Travel Crib - we have had Rachel in her Phil N Teds travel crib in hotels, houses, a hut ... we've used it a LOT.  We love it.  It's the lightest one there is.  That means more room in our bags for other stuff.  It's like putting up a little tent for her every night - not as fast as the PeaPod ones, but lighter as it's supposed to last her until 3yrs old.  She can now open all the zippers and get in and out, but this has proved so far to be a fun game during the day rather than an issue at night when it's dark.  The only issue we have with it at all is that it's tough to fit back in the bag, and we have torn our bag and now have duct tape on it.

Bjorn - Rachel has used the carrier that we were generously given by friends in Penticton since she was about 2 weeks old.  I'm still using it... although it is not comfortable anymore and she really is getting too big for it.  She doesn't weigh 20lbs yet, but it hurts my neck and back for rides longer than about 10 minutes.  We had actually packed it away after our hut trip last February since it was so uncomfortable for that long trip, but I have used it during travel since.  It's just not practical to fly with a backpack.  I know the Ergo carrier would be a way better option, since it is also just collapsible fabric, but I don't want to buy another carrier when the Bjorn does work.  But if I were starting all over again, I would get the Ergo over the Bjorn and use it right away (with an infant insert) and keep using it well into toddler years.  I still keep my eye out for a used one to cross my path and will buy one if I can find a good deal. 

Stroller - We have not had a stroller on this trip and that has been ok.  We borrowed a jog stroller last weekend from a friend so we could have a family run... but other than that, Rachel has not been in a stroller for many weeks.  Let's hope she's ok to get back into her Chariot and/or backpack on Sat because there's a foot of new snow at home to go xcountry ski or snowshoe on!