All Things Supercinski

December was a busy month of creating and crafting, enjoying one another and extended family, and celebrating Advent. For some reason (Pinterest), I decided to make many of the gifts I gave for Christmas this year. It was probably a bit much with having a fussy three month old who takes short naps, but it was very satisfying to make so many gifts. The garden took a hit after a big freeze and we lost our green beans just as they were starting to produce. The lettuce, spinach, kale, and broccoli have been very productive, while the cauliflower and brussels sprouts are still going slowly.

(I cannot take credit for the gingerbread house. A friend made those and had invited us to come decorate them, however, Sugar ran a fever the day before so we had to stay home. She let us take them home along with some candy and decorate. The kids had a blast! Thank you again, Friend!) We wrapped up our first half of the year of homeschooling. Bud is halfway through with our first grade math curriculum and reading much faster these days. His favorite book right now is, “Are You My Mother?” which he laughs out loud reading. Sugar is working on learning her letters, and I will post about some of our fun activities soon.

December marked the first ever Bryan-College Station marathon. While neither of us were up to running this year, we wanted to do our part to support it, so we made some signs and loaded the kids up in the freezing morning to go out and cheer on some runners. Our signs said, “Your feet hurt because you’re kicking so much butt” and “Chuck Norris never ran a marathon.” It was fun, but cold, so we only lasted a short while. This is how Speedy and I looked in the baby wearing poncho–floating baby head!

We spent a long weekend celebrating Christmas at my mom’s house with my siblings and their families, along with my grandparents in from Arizona. It was a special treat to get to see them, and I am so glad they got to spend time with my kids. Thomas and I organized some “Minute to Win It” Christmas games that I saw on Pinterest. It was fun and I think I will make us all do it again next year. Here is my baby brother holding my baby:

I sold our elliptical machine this month and used the money I made to buy some other exercise equipment for working out in the garage. Getting back to the gym seems a long way off with night wakings and nursing, so I am starting to do some stuff on my own. My dad welded me my own box for Christmas and gave me a bunch of weight plates to help me get started. It has been fun so far.

Advent was a good season of reflection for me personally as I was confronted with a lot of grief and sorrow around me as two friends lost children this month. At first, I felt terrible going about the fun preparations for Christmas while I knew these dear women were grieving deeply. In reflecting on Jesus coming as a baby, being God With Us, I could taste even greater what that meant through these sad times. It was a sweet time of rejoicing in His coming and though we have grief and suffering now, we have hope because He came and conquered death. I love the words to one of my favorite Andrew Peterson songs, “the man of all sorrows/never forgot/what sorrow is carried/by the hearts that he bought…”

We wrapped up the month with our yearly decluttering and reorganizing of cabinets, closets, and such. It has been a nice, relaxing end to a busy season.

Speedy seems to be a much happier baby this month. He still has lots of reflux symptoms (spitting up a ton, choking if on his back within 30 minutes of a feeding, coughing and choking if he hasn’t had his medicine in a while), but he is much happier. He weighs 15.5 pounds and wears 3-6 month clothes.

This month brought a lot of changes for little man. He started rolling over from his back to tummy during the middle of the month and he is very fast with it now. He has rolled over from tummy to back just a handful of times. While on his tummy, he “airplanes” with his chest and legs of the ground while kicking his feet as fast as he can. He gets really frustrated by his lack of mobility. He has a white spot under his lower gums, but it has not broken through. I keep thinking it will any day, but it still eludes us.

Sleep with Little Man became quite difficult this month. I had blamed most of his awful sleep issues on reflux, which I think was legitimate, but he had become so dependent on nursing to fall asleep, that combined with reflux and my oversupply issue, he was not sleeping well at all. He was having trouble staying asleep. After several nights of his night wakings that were normally 15 minute nursing sessions followed by 15 minutes being held upright asleep on my chest turning into hour or longer bouncing in the sling sessions (every hour and a half!), I was about to lose my mind. I read some of the sleep book, and we moved Speedy out of our room and our bed to the crib in the nursery, stopped swaddling (since he was rolling to his tummy in his swaddle), along with being more rigid about not letting him get overtired, he has started sleeping much better. He still wakes up 1-3 times a night, but those are quick feedings and he is right back to sleep. He takes 3-4 naps a day, and most naps are 45 minutes to one hour long. Occasionally, he will have a nice long, 2+ hour nap. Ideally, he needs to be put down after 1.5 hours of wakefulness, but this can be difficult sometimes. He can also go to sleep without nursing sometimes, which is helpful.

He is working so hard at using his hands to grab toys and other objects. He likes watching his feet and grabbing at toys and putting them in his mouth a bit. He loves his big brother and smiles at him all the time. He laughs really hard at his sister, and is not as afraid of her as he used to be (though he still has every right to be afraid of her!)

We sure love our sweet little baby. If you see him, tell him not to be in such a hurry to be mobile, k?

44. Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morganstern – Thomas picked this up from the library in anticipation of our yearly major decluttering that takes place around New Year. I thought this lady had some great things to say in analyzing the reasons why one cannot stay organized. It was a really quick read that was helpful in preparing for our kitchen decluttering and reorganization, along with some practical tips for the kids’ room. That place overwhelms me! I skipped the sections on offices and businesses, so I was able to read this in an afternoon.

45. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth – I have had this book since Josiah was a baby and have referenced it often. However, Micah has been a different baby altogether than the other two, and I actually sat down and read most of this book this month, so I am counting it. There is a lot of wisdom in this book and he gives you a lot of options to decide what best fits your child and your parenting practices. I recommend it for my childbirth students just to know what normal sleep is for their babies at different ages. I had no clue when Josiah was a baby!

46. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat – I saw this recommended on Pinterest, but my, was this a sad, sad book to read. I appreciated the glimpse into Haitian culture, but it was a very depressing book.

47. The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam – This book is written by a Cambodian woman who was sold into prostitution as a young teenager. It is her memoir of her escape from brothels and how she began rescuing thousands of girls and women from brothels. It was so sad, and reading about the corruption and brutality was difficult. The forward for this book was written by Nicholas Kristof, who wrote “Half the Sky.”

43. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Houssini – this is the same author who wrote the Kite Runner. This book was a page turner. I really enjoyed it and recommend it. Sorry, no time for synopsis, baby crying.

November was a great time for us to enjoy cooler weather, a bit of a slower pace, and focusing on thankfulness. The thankful tree was a big hit again. Some of my favorites were Sugar being thankful for the color purple, and Bud being thankful for his baby brother almost each night.

We spent Thanksgiving at home with Thomas’ parents. We were so thankful they made the drive. We weren’t going to attempt traveling with our car seat screamer yet. I made a ham (well, HEB made it, I reheated it), sweet potato casserole, roasted veggies, salad (from the garden), and rolls. Thomas’ mom took care of dessert. I was able to keep my meal dairy-free, which I have been working hard to do to see if it helps Speedy’s reflux.

A sweet young lady from our church got married earlier in November, and the kids enjoyed their first wedding. This picture is fuzzy (the camera lens was dirty for the first half of November, I have since discovered), but the kids were so cute and excited. Sugar’s favorite part was the dancing (she and all the young girls from church were dancing up a storm), and Bud’s favorite part was the chocolate covered strawberry someone found for him (they were all gone by the time we let him go get one.)

I started crafting again! It started by making a monkey for Sugar for his class unit on Caps for Sale at CC. That turned out to be a lot of fun, so I dusted off my sewing machine and haven’t looked back. Thanks Pinterest! Most of what I have made is Christmas gifts, so I cannot show you just yet. You can see the monkey joining the kids for a picnic snack. She’s the one in the Bumbo seat.

I also made some onesie dresses for a friend who just had her first girl.

The garden is growing like crazy, with broccoli heads galore, lettuce and spinach big and strong, green beans and cauliflower coming in, and brussels sprouts still waiting. The garden and big kids have enjoyed the rain.

We also started getting the kids to do more chores at dinner time. They make everything a party as they clear the table and clean the floors.

And lastly, King Bud and Queen Sugar display their royal crowns. That was a fun little craft. Bud wrote his name on the side of his crown with an arrow pointing down, just in case you weren’t sure who his name was referring to.

Better late than never! At three months, Speedy is much more agreeable than he was a month ago. He still has a lot of reflux symptoms and wakes up choking a lot, but he can finally sleep at night without being upright. This is huge for me after sleeping sitting up for twelve weeks with a baby on my chest. He weighs 14.5 pounds these days and is getting chubbier everyday. He lost the patch of hair on the top of each of his ears this month. It was over 1/2 inch long before it fell out!

He loves being held and yells and yells if he is put down for too long. Therefore, he gets worn a lot. I am so thankful for good baby carriers!

Speedy naps several times a day. At three months, he can stay awake for an hour and a half before needing a nap, and if we are out, it can be pushed to two hours. He screams in the car seat driving around town, which makes for frazzled Supercinskis when we arrive at our destination. His naps are about 45 minutes or an hour long, but I have hope that they will be someday! At night, he may go four hours between nursing, but it is often the first stretch of sleep that is is three or four hours and then he wakes every two to three hours after that. He falls asleep really quickly in the Moby Wrap when we are out.

His favorite person seems to be Bud. Speedy lights up with smiles and coos when Bud comes near. He tends to cringe a bit when Sugar is around as she likes to get too close and in his face too much.

We are getting lots of smiles and laughs from this guy. He also is very serious in studying what is going on around him. When he makes his “serious face”, he furrows his brow and purses his lips. I must get a picture! We sure love our sweet little boy.