Himaya is fast approaching her 1st month birthday (wow... that was fast). In the last 3 1/2 weeks, as expected, I have learned a lot about being a parent. One of the most surprising things that recently come to my attention is the astounding quantity of money Em and I will spend on diapers throughout her life.
I know she needs changing no more than the average baby, but she has a knack for peeing and/or pooing only seconds after changing her. We try waiting a minute to make sure she is really done, but even that has fallen through. We are starting to feel like we are just wrapping her butt in dollar bills.
In other news... we have decided that she might have colic. We looked online and through a lot of books, and it describes pretty much what we are seeing about every night. It seems at times as though there is nothing we can do to console her, and she just screams her head off. We keep checking her diaper and trying to feed her, but nothing doing.
I am sure beyond a doubt that our neighbors hate us. Each night she will scream and scream... we are learning tricks to temporarily placate her. However, as soon as you stop the repeated shhh shhh shhh sounds or slow the bouncing/rocking, she starts right back up. After a few hours, she gets tired enough that she will fall asleep. According to all sources, it shouldn't last more than a few weeks to a few months... that makes for a pretty dim light at the end of the tunnel. For the mean time, we stopped by Babies R Us yesterday and bought her a bouncer. It plays music and vibrates... at times it's enough to keep her calm, but if she is already mad it does nothing to help the situation.
Yesterday I went back to school and began my last year of school. That's right... I am now a senior for the last time (until I am old). During the summer semester I am taking upper extremity orthotics (bracing), upper extremity prosthetics and I have 2 days a week of clinic rotation. For years I have wanted to eventually work at Shriner's Hospital (a children's hospital); so before this semester I made a request to the P&O director to go to The Scottish Rite ( another children's hospital). This is going to be a great opportunity for me to get more experience working with kids, which will be great on my resume when I apply at Shriner's. So I had thought that the week was going really well, but I had no Idea how much better it was going to get. I have always taken issue with the concept of in-state vs. out-of-state tuition, because why should I be penalized for not being born in a state with a prosthetics & orthotics program? I pay about 3 times as much as my Texas-native classmates, which I think is ridiculous.
Well, yesterday I found out that since I had lived in Texas for 12 months, I was eligible to petition for in-state tuition, AND I GOT IT!!!! This will save us about 12-14 thousand dollars over this second year! I am elated to say the least. I know that this is a blessing from the Lord for our decision to have Emily stay home to take care of Himaya rather than putting her in day-care while Em went to work. Life is at a high point again from where I am sitting. Thanks for your stopping by to read about the family. Have a great day, and be looking for another blog around Sunday.
