First of all, I had my first appointment at the new OBGYN office yesterday and it went great! I met with the Nurse Educator and just went over my health history and the medical records that were transferred from Women's Health Services, and I feel like I'm in very good hands here. They did a complete blood work-up for me yesterday to determine my baseline metabolic numbers so they know what's normal for me (so that if something happens in the future they have a reference to go by) as well as the normal checkup stuff, like my weight and blood pressure. My blood pressure was 105/58, so I'm doing great on that end of things...I'd much rather have blood pressure that's a little low than too high. I occasionally get light-headed or dizzy because of it, but it's easily manageable. We listened to Piper's heartbeat and she's doing great, and it was overall a great appointment. I do have to do a 24-hour urine collection...meaning I have to pee in a jug for the next 24 hours, which is a little weird, but it's so they have a reference point if something changes down the road. They also seem to be very supportive of my birth preferences (as long as my pregnancy and labor are normal) and have already provided information on lactation consultants so that I have some resources I didn't have last time. My next appointment is scheduled for next Wednesday, and that will be my first appointment with the new doctor. I'm looking forward to it!
I'm finishing up a book today....Making Children Mind without Losing Yours by Kevin Leman. I LOVE this book. It's been the most practical and helpful parenting book I've read so far. It's probably more for kids who are 2 or 3 years and up to adolescence, but I decided to go ahead and read it now since I've had it on my list for a while. I probably like it so much because it already lines up with what I believe about parenting and how I want to raise our children. It's about disciplining our children in firm, loving ways instead of ruling over them as authoritarians and follows the principles of Ephesians 6:1-4 --
"Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. 'Honor your father and mother.' This is the first commandment with a promise: If you honor your father and mother, 'things will go well for you and you will have a long life on the earth.' Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord."
One of the methods Leman mentions in this book that has been so helpful for us in the past few months is removing your child from the room when he/she throws a temper tantrum. We've been doing this one for a while, but I had gotten kinda lazy about it since I now have to walk up a flight of stairs to isolate Ellie in her bedroom. After reading this book, I remembered how effective it's been in the past, and decided to make an effort to start doing it again. When Ellie throws a temper tantrum, we usually give her a couple minutes to get it out of her system. I mean, it's kinda part of the age she's at right now and it's one of the few ways she can really express her frustration or anger at something, and so I think that's normal. However, if she doesn't calm down after a few minutes, I take her upstairs and put her in the crib. I usually just say something like, "When you calm down you can come out, okay?" and usually within a couple minutes she's over the tantrum. I don't know if this would work for all children, but it really works for Ellie, mainly because she's an attention-getter. It's part of her personality and I think it's just who she is...she's our little "social butterfly." It's great when she behaves well, but can be terrible when she's throwing a temper tantrum because she wants an audience. As soon as she's removed from the audience, there's really no motivation to keep screaming and carrying on for her.
Anyway, I would highly recommend this book. It's practical, straightforward, and easy to read with a little comedy thrown in there. It makes me feel more resolved to parent Ellie with love and kindness, but also being firm in what boundaries we've determined for her.
I did a couple of very small, uninvolved projects this past week...I'm finding I have less energy or resolve to do any kind of intense cleaning tasks or new recipes right now, but I'm hoping that down the road (once I get some energy back) I'll try some new things every now and then. Anyway, I made this homemade pom-pom "stuff it in" toy for Ellie last week. I used a small plastic container with a lid and just cut a small hole in the top. I had purchased pom poms from the Dollar Tree forever ago, so I already had those on hand. And actually, the plastic container I used was from some soup we ordered from a Chinese restaurant. I like that it's a completely clear container, and it was the perfect size for this activity.
My other little project this week was a new recipe for homemade chocolate granola bars, which turned out to be sooooo good! And they are so easy to make, which is a huge plus for me. I used quick oats (even though she says not to) and they still turned out great. I also omitted the wheat germ since I didn't have any of that. All it required was peanut butter, butter, honey, chocolate chips, and coconut. I just melted the first three ingredients in a pot, then stirred in everything else, dumped it in a square dish lined with foil, and refrigerated it for a few hours until hardened. These taste a lot like preacher cookies, which are my all-time favorite cookies ever, but these are so much easier to make. It seems like every time I make preacher cookies they don't set well, and it ends up being a huge hassle (and mess!). I don't even know if Billy liked these granola bars...I didn't bother asking because I really liked them and will continue to make them whether he likes them or not! =)
I will have to check out that book. I have read another book by him and would imagine that this one would be good too. You are such a good momma. Will likes to throw tantrums too, but thankfully it's not too often. He does just look at me a yell sometimes when he doesn't get his way, which is just annoying. Haha. I'm hoping we can nip that in the bud! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm SO glad everything is going well for you guys and your pregnancy so far. I read your last post too and can totally identify with the loneliness thing much of the time. I only have a few friends here and we don't have schedules that jive usually. It's been extra hard with Rob being gone for so long but, praise God he'll be home for good in less than two weeks!