Random Happenings

Yesterday went really slow, not sure why but I’m hoping today goes a lot faster. I stayed the whole day even though my stomach was killing me the last 2 hours, it didn’t top until I fell asleep and no longer felt the pain, this bug is no fun! B’s Christmas play was really cute and he was so sweet in his angel costume, the wings were almost bigger than he was. We stayed for him to see Santa and get a gift plus they gave us an ornament B helped make (he didn’t even try to eat the glitter has he finger painted the star) and they gave us a wall decoration with his picture in it, so precious. He did good last night, he slept straight through until 3:00 and I gave him his pacifier (I really need to break him from this and he was doing good until he got his ear infection) then he was wide awake at 5:00 and started screaming bloody murder because I didn’t want to take him out of his crib yet. He sounded so hysterical and when I went in there wasn’t one tear, I think I’m being manipulated. So I stuck him in the bouncer while I showered and got ready and he held out until 6:00 pretty easily. He’s started arching his back and hitting the bottle when I feed him and it’s getting really annoying. I had to hold his arm down and put my leg over his to keep him from constantly moving. I may just have to start taking the bottle away when he does this because I will not tolerate this behavior and I’m not sure how else to teach a 5.5 month old that this needs to stop. He did eat better this morning, he had 6 oz without too much of a fight and he ate almost all of his 2 T cereal with sweet potatoes. Once this jar of sweet potatoes is gone I’m going to try some peas so I may even try it tonight. I’m not sure why I’m so excited to try green vegetables with him but I am!

I got a load of whites done last night so tonight I’m going do a load of darks then a load of B’s clothes. I also need to get things organized for the trip and packed so tomorrow I will have minimal work to do to get ready. I talked with my mom last night and my brother and the kids aren’t coming up until Sunday then my SIL will be up on Monday. I’m actually happy about this because it means we will have one on one time with my parents and we haven’t had that for some time now. DH and I are going to see Night at the Museum on Saturday night while my parents watch B, it will be nice for us to have alone time and my parents will enjoy alone time with B even though he’ll probably be sleeping.

DH had his stitches removed this morning and he had an allergic reaction to the triple antibiotic ointment he was putting on the “wounds” so she gave him a prescription and some samples. That’s why he was itchier than usual, poor guy’s been suffering and we could have prevented it the whole time. We got Lady in the Water so we’re going to try to watch it tonight; I’m really excited since I love his movies. We were going watch it last night but I was tired and didn’t feel good so tonight should work. I’ll just have to be motivated right when I get home to get things ready to go.

I’m doing a kitchen towel exchange, it’s kind of like a chain letter so you send it to 6 people and move the person who sent it to you to the top of the list and put your name next (at the bottom since there’s only the 2 names on the list). I sent out my towel yesterday and I’m sending out my 6 letters today, it would be fun to get some new towels but you never know if people will follow through with this stuff or not, we’ll see.

Well I suppose I should do something productive today so I’ll tackle some of these piles, I can’t wait to get out of here tomorrow. Yippee for Christmas!

I came home early yesterday, my stomach was hurting so bad and (warming TMI) I was in the bathroom at work 3 times in 10 min, not my idea of fun. I felt so crappy that I had DH pick B up from day care since he was out and about, I just didn't think I would make it. As soon as I got hom I puked and I did feel better for a little while after that but of course the pain came back. I decided I'm not going to work today, for starters I know my stomach still isn't happy but I haven't eaten yet so it hasn't hit me full force. Plus I was planning on leaving early today anyways so we can get on the road and get to Fsyth so what the heck.

On a happy note, DH gave me my present yesterday. When I walked in the house sitting in my dining room is the most beautiful hutch, I was so excited. It matches the tv stand and it goes great with our dining room table. I cleaned it yesterday but we have to move it over a little to center it before I can put all of my stuff in and on it. He spent way too much but I'm so happy, this means that my upstairs has all the furniture I wanted in it and now all that's left is a little bit of wall decorations. He's too good to me. The hutch is pictured on the main page at Conlin's. http://www.conlins.com/ Since we aren't really wine drinkers I'll remove the wine bottle holder.

DH has some onsite this morning packing up the computer supplies for the Burns office here in town. He's hoping that after that he can just come home and we can leave so I'm hoping we can get out of here in the early afternoon. It snowed a little skiff (I'll go out and shovel soon) but they say more is coming early today, I'm happy to see the snow but just want the roads to be good for us.

Well I better get showered, shovel, and start packing up the car and making sure she's got the fluids she needs. Merry Christmas!

Christmas was really nice and I can hardly believe it's off to work again tomorrow. We left for my parents at 2:00 on Friday and the roads were really good so that was a plus. It's been so warm in Fsyth that there wasn't any snow so that was a bit disappointing but oh well.

Saturday was just my parents and us so we were able to relax and let B spend lots of time with Mimi & Papa. DH, my dad, and I went to Night at the Museum and enjoyed the movie it was funny and clean. My niece was puking on Sunday morning so we were told my brother and his family wasn’t coming up at all but since they are always so indecisive they did come up in the end. We also watched Lady in the Water and I enjoyed it a lot, The Village is still my favorite but this kept us all guessing through the end. My brother and his family arrived around 4:00 on Sunday and it was a whole different dynamic in the house after that, it’s not bad just not the same. I ended up making dinner on Sunday night before church because all the kids wanted my mom and there was no way she could take care of them and make dinner on time so I stepped up to the plate. Of course SIL didn’t help at all.

The candlelight service was nice; Liz didn’t listen the whole time and ran around doing whatever she wanted (that was a little annoying since we were only there for 30 min). This is behavior they never would have tolerated from Logan but for some reason she’s treated totally different. During Christmas dinner they kept yelling at Logan because he’d get up from his chair but when Liz did it they ignored her, I wish they’d treat them both the same because I really feel bad for Logan. We got home and opened presents and my grandma came over for a little bit to exchange some presents and hold B. She was looking good and I hope she’s done with surgeries for a while.

We all got a lot of nice things and B got a ton of presents, I had to keep his stuff away since Liz wanted to play with everything and since she had been sick I didn’t want her to spread her germs. I also didn’t want her to break anything because she will try to get into his things that won’t hold her weight and heaven forbid C or W tell her to leave his things alone. We sprinkled reindeer food with magic glitter on the lawn and Logan was so excited he said, “we better get sleeping before Santa gets here.” I fell asleep on the couch after.

Christmas day went fast, I started out putting away dishes because W doesn’t clean up after her kids but dinner was great and we left after feeding B so we were home around 7:00 pm. We opened the rest of our presents when we got home and B played with some of his new toys a little bit, he was pretty excited about all the things he was surrounded with. I’m spending today putting things away, doing laundry, and relaxing. B woke at 6:30, ate, and slept until 9:30. So I was able to sleep in some and it felt great. His sleeping was horrible while we were gone. His naps didn’t last past 45 min because he’d wake and hear all the activity so he wouldn’t go back to sleep. He also kept waking every 2 hours at night and last night wasn’t too much better. He kept waking while DH was still up and DH ended up feeding him (after everything else failed) 7 oz in the middle of the night, so I think he’s going through a growth spurt. He’s also been eating a ton during the day and he likes peas and green beans, yea! His naps today have been pretty good so hopefully tonight will be back to normal, or at least close.

My niece, Liz, is 2.5 and she still isn’t talking so both of her grandmas have mentioned to her parents that they should see if something is wrong. C and W both were mad but my SIL decided to call STEP and have them look at her. She is developmentally behind in her speech and they are starting therapy with her once a week, my brother is still mad and won’t acknowledge that she’s behind and needs some help but thank God my SIL is doing what needs to be done. STEP asked my SIL why she didn’t call them earlier but still my brother is keeping his head in the clouds. My mom is also concerned, hasn’t told my brother of course, about her not being potty trained yet. She still poops and pees in her diaper and doesn’t seem to be bothered when she’s sitting in a filthy diaper. My mom is worried she may be developmentally behind on more than just her speech but we’re hoping if that’s the case that STEP will see the signs and tell C & W rather than one of us having to mention something. I know everything will work out but I need to pray that there’s nothing wrong with her, I don’t think C would be able to handle it.

Well I better get motivated and clean this place up.

It is really quiet around work today, not surprising since I’m sure most people are taking this whole week off. The great part is I got a parking spot in the very front and it should be an “easy get a lot of things done” kind of day and week. I wasn’t too productive yesterday but those days are needed now and then. I did get our laundry done and I’m going to do B’s tonight, I also filled my dining hutch with dishes (I still need to decorate it but that will happen after the Christmas decorations are taken down), and I organized/cleaned our junk drawers and the cupboards below them.

I am determined (yes I’ve said this before but I really am going to force myself to do this now that the holiday’s are over) to start exercising daily and watching what I eat. I think I need to first cut out the candy and bad foods I ingest along with soda and then I will cut back on my portion intake. I want to be able to fit in my pre-pregnancy clothes again and feel good about my looks by the summer time. My body shape will never be skinny and I’m ok with that but where I’m at now is unattractive and most importantly unhealthy. Wish me luck!

B did really well with his naps yesterday and was right on schedule so that made me happy. He also ate a ton; we gave him 12 oz before bed along with cereal hoping it would hold him through the night. He wasn’t too crazy about the beans the second time around so we’ll see how he does tonight. He slept solid until 2:00 when he woke and fussed a little, I was hoping that if I gave him the pacifier right away he wouldn’t wake himself up. Well he fussed 3 times within 20 min and then he talked/fussed for about 15-20 min and I was hoping he’d just fall asleep on his own. He started to get more worked up around 3:00 so I went in and explained that it was still night time and that he needed to settle down and sleep, he was kicking his feet and his eyes were wide open. I gave him the pacifier and left, he gave 3 wails and then was quiet until 6:00 when I woke him up. This is at least a step in the right direction and hopefully tonight he’ll be back to normal. The cruddy thing is he’s going to be thrown off again this weekend when we go to RL for New Year’s and then his 6 month appt (more immunizations) is on the 5th. Oh well! I’m hoping sometime in January I can work on breaking him from his pacifier, let’s hope he stays healthy.

He’s figured out how to bounce and move on the Radio Flyer Horse Mimi & Papa bought for him, I think it will be a good way for him to work on his balance and get his back and stomach muscles strong. He’s also playing with the Busy Bus they got him, he can’t use a lot of the things it has but he does like to twirl the tick tack toe pieces. He’s also still a little young for the dragon we got him but he had his lips puckered out (this is his concentration look that he got from my side) as he checked it out and the lights and sounds it made. Once he can sit up on his own he’ll really enjoy it. I think I’m going to see what he thinks of the Little Leaps Learning System tonight, I know this is a little old for him too but at least he can grow into these things. He’s been really enthralled with the lap top lately so that may be an idea for a gift down the road, he and daddy can both work hard on the computer together :) DH was letting him type on the lap top this weekend and of course he removed a couple keys. He’s going to have to get better at not letting him play with things that are too old for him, even though it was really cute watching him type IM’s.

DH IM’d me and said daycare called because B has been crying, has a 100 degree temp, and is grabbing his ear (I missed their call when they called me). So I assume he’s heading right over to get B taken care of and daycare calls me again saying it’s been 45 min since they called and he’s still not there. So I call DH and he still hadn’t left work, I’m not pleased and I’m going to chat with him about getting out of their pronto or getting a hold of me so I can go. I’m all worked up right now and am a bundle of nerves, I just hate it when I know B’s unhappy and I can’t be there to comfort him.

I made an appointment with the pediatrician’s office so DH is taking him straight there. We just finished his amoxicillin on Saturday so I’m guessing it just didn’t get rid of his infection completely and now it’s strong enough to bother him again. The poor baby, I would prefer that I be the one that’s sick and not him.

So I guess I’ll try to get as much done as possible in case I’m stuck at home tomorrow.

I’m at work today and I’m happy about it, what a concept! DH took B to the Dr. and he has an ear ache so we now have ear drops to give him and another antibiotic. This one cost over $50 and I guess the pharmacist was a little nervous when she told DH, I’m sure a lot of people freak out on them when they see the cost of meds. I’m thankful that we have the money so we don’t have to worry about breaking the bank when crap like this comes up. When I got home B was in a decent mood but he hadn’t slept for awhile so I rocked him and he crashed on me for almost 2 hours then woke for his pre-bed feeding. He didn’t get to bed until after 8:00 because I had to hold him on his side for about 20 min to make sure the ear drops stayed in, but he went down fast and slept really well for being sick. He woke at 1:00 and the pacifier calmed him for a little bit but he was happiest when I let him hold my hands until he was out cold. He then woke again at 4:45 and the pacifier did the trick that time. He was really happy this morning so we’re having him go to daycare and I think he’ll do fine.

On a very happy note we got snow! I’d say about 3 inches and it’s still coming down lightly. The Interstate was a little slick and the side streets in town hadn’t been plowed yet but it’s great to see snow again. We’ll have to get B dressed in his new snowsuit (it’s suede and from our friends M & R) and get some pictures to send to M & R so they can see him playing in the snow.

Today’s going to be another quiet one and I’m not sure what exactly I’m going to do. I need to get my desk organized and file some things then I’ll start working on consolidating my records with accountings, oh the fun!

I talked with my mom yesterday and the results from Liz’s tests with STEP came in and she’s 43% behind on her speech and only 20 some% of where she’s suppose to be on something else affecting her speech (mom couldn’t remember what it was). Since she’s behind on 2 categories their work with her will be free and they’ll be coming to the house weekly so SIL can learn how to work with her. My brother has now accepted that she needs the help and isn’t fighting it anymore, thank God for knocking some sense into him.

B did really well at day care yesterday and he slept ok last night. He did fuss 3 different times and if he wasn’t sick I would have let him fuss himself to sleep but I’m a sucker and gave him his pacifier each time. I also wanted to make sure he didn’t have a fever and was still propped in his boppy properly so that’s my excuse also. We’ve been practicing sitting on the bed in the mornings when I have a few minutes before I have to leave and he enjoys falling over every which way. He can sit upright (not in the tripod) for about 2 sec and I’m happy with that. We played on the horse last night and he was having a good time on there, I’m so happy it came with a wraparound to hold him up. He’s decided to start arching his back more so when we put him in the swing we have to start buckling him in. I put him on the floor to arch his back and hopefully roll but nope, he just cried and looked at me like I was torturing him. I’ve noticed that when I put him somewhere to play if he sees me he starts to fuss and want to be held so I think now is a good time to start implementing the BW idea of a play area where they can’t you. I’ll probably have to use his bedroom since the kitchen, living, and dining rooms are all open. That’s not so bad since it should mean we can probably get some of his toys out of the living area. I need to organize his bedroom better so there’s room for all his stuff, its ridiculous how many toys he already has. He’s also enjoying being held as I do things around the house, he watches every little thing and then will try to help, I love his cute little hands and how busy they are. Hopefully this means he’ll be my little helper when he’s older but I won’t hold my breath.

I’m not really in the mood to travel again this weekend but I better get there fast. I plan to do laundry tonight and finish it tomorrow morning then I’ll have to pack, at least we don’t have presents to load up this time. I need to pay bills tonight and maybe do a little bit of cleaning. I’m just in the mood to be lazy and do a lot of nothing so that’s an option too. My dad put new spark plugs in the car last weekend and that has gotten rid of the jerking the car was doing, yeah! Thank God because I did not want to deal with a bad transmission.

I was thinking about how broke we use to be, it’s funny how once you’re not broke anymore you quickly forget all of the sacrifices you made. I think the “best” memory from our poor house days was when we’d eat pancakes for dinner 2-3 nights a week. I’d say some of the best advice we got from Harvey at our pre-marriage counseling was, “You can go a long way on love and pancakes.” I’m not sure why that memory makes me smile but it does.

DH wants to build me a kitchen computer, I had never even heard of them! It will be a small and simple machine (with internet of course) that I can put my recipes on. I think we’ll put the box on the corner of the counter (I just need to decide if I want black or silver) and then the flat screen monitor will be mounted to the bottom of the cabinets so I can pull it down when I’m using it. He’s really excited about it and I’m getting more excited than I was at first. I now need to see if I can find the software I have for recipes on the computer, hmmm.

I think we got a total of 6 inches yesterday, the roads are still a bit hairy here and there but all in all it’s not bad. Everything is so pretty after it snows; I always wish I had a camera with me to capture some of the beautiful sights. Let’s hope it sticks around until spring this time, it’s suppose to get cold again (negatives at night and teens for the high) so it’ll be around for a little while at least.

Well enough babbling for one day, I must file!

My plan last night was to relax and sleep, I think this little cold I have is giving me headaches. Well DH informs me that a friend of his from High School is staying one night with us next week, which I'm fine with but that meant I had to clean the house, put the Christmas decorations away, do laundry, and pack all before 4:00 today. So I cleaned everything but the floors last night and asked DH to help me take the tree down, he states that he has to clean the basement bathroom (which is a chore I gave to him since he's the one that uses it and it's the one next to our spare bathroom) and heads downstairs. An hour and a half later I have all the decorations packed and am pissed because we all know it DOES NOT take 1.5 HOURS to clean a bathroom. It's 11:30, I'm tired and I start taking all the boxes to the storage room. Well low and behold DH is playing on his computer but pops up as soon as he sees me to act like he's working. He then asks me what he can do, well I told him what he could do 1.5 hours earlier but obviously "work" is for the wife to do. I told him I'll take care of it (I know he knows by this and my tone that I'm not a happy camper) and he gets some attitude and walks away from me. I'm still ticked off at him for leaving everything but the bathroom to me and I'm not going to be lovey dovey and sweet this weekend, I'll be quiet and act like the slave/cleaner that he seems to think I am. Selfish, selfish men!

So finally, 20 min to 4:00, I have everything taken care of and the car is packed. B has been great today for me so that has helped a lot. I'm still not too excited to head to RL and maybe I'll take a nap on the way since I didn't get much sleep last night. 12:30 to 5:30 isn't my idea of sleep on a weekend night.

Other than me being annoyed nothing much is going on, I really hope I can practice patience and not be overly sensitive (won't help that AF is here) with MIL and FIL. At least my house is clean and the laundry is done, that's something to think of. I need to pay bills but I think I'll put that off until Monday, right now I'm urging to play with my little angel.

Our trip to RL went ok, DH and I didn't talk the 2.5 hours there and it was all because of me, though I'm a sucker and am being nice to him again without my apology. It's like with a child, if you don't talk with them when the behavior happens it doesn't do any good, though I am holding this as ammo the next time (about in a month I'm sure :)) we get into him not helping me around the house.

B slept the whole way to RL so when we got there I let him stay up about an hour later than usual, the IL's were all happy to see him. I was feeling crappy, my head had a ton of pressure and I was tired, so I went to bed fairly early and so did DH because I gave him my cold. We were stuck in the room with the trundle bed, I despise that thing but I was happy that it basically seperated DH and me.

Sunday was an ok day, B didn't nap worth a darn (he didn't even make it to the 45 min intruder it was more like 30 min). We watched the neice and nephews sled and went to the nature center to see the animals. I'm not one that likes to see wild animals enclosed and kept from living the life their meant to live but I was ok with this place because it takes in animals that have been orphaned, wounded, or abandoned by people who should know that say bobcats DO NOT make good housepets. They have info on each animal to say how they got there, I felt especially bad for the hawk that was hit by a car and lost it's left wing. It was bitter cold so we made the trip a fast one and headed back to the house. After we warmed up B and DH went for a tobogan ride pulled behind the 4-wheeler. B was pretty indifferent but he looked so sweet in his snow suit. We were able to get out of going to the neighbors house because B was in bed though BIL and his family all tried to stay behind with B and send us with MIL and FIL, nobody wanted to go and in the end we all got out of it. B kept waking between 10:30 and 11:30 so I called it an early night and laid down with him so he'd stay asleep, this meant I got to skip out on the champagne (bleh!) toast that MIL forced everyone into.

Last year we told everyone that we were pregnant on New Year's Eve and MIL still tried to get me to drink champagne. She has the nerve to tell me that day care is damaging for my child but she apparently thinks fetal alcohol syndrome isn't. They brought me to tears that night. We told both parents that we were pregnant by wrapping a pacifier in a box as a present, the first thing FIL says to me after they find out is "what are you going to do about work?" We then get into the long debate about me working vs. not working. Really they have no say because DH and I are totally independant of them. These comments continued for 10 months until I had DH talk with MIL to tell her to back off because I was to the point where nice comments were not going to continue to come out of my mouth. So that night I dealt with this and DH didn't help me out or support our decision at all, he watched t.v. and didn't "hear" the conversation. Then I had to continually say no to the champagne, we're not in high school I should not be pressured to drink and how dare they try to force me! Then we were looking at pictures of SIL's wedding 5 months earlier and my newphew says that I look fat in the family picture and not one person told him that was rude (he was 9) or made any other comment. I had had enough at this point, went to bed and cried. What a great start to the new year huh?

I missed the count down and I didn't care, New Year's doesn't mean much to me just another number to write on my checks. When MIL and FIL came back from the neighbors party she was yelling down the hallway for B because she could hear him on the monitor. DH had to tell her to leave us be because I was getting him to sleep. She expected me to bring him out since he was "up", he's 6 months old and I'm not going to get him more excited and awake by bringing him out for some stupid celebration. She needs to use some common sense.

I didn't get to sleep in today and that's not a real surprise. MIL got up each morning when B had his first feeding so instead of me being able to sneak us back to bed she had to distract him and make it harder on me. I know she's just trying to enjoy her grandson but unless she's going to offer to take him so I can sleep I'd just rather her stay in bed so I can go back to bed. My mom wanted to do the first feeding but she also offered to take B so I could go back to sleep, unless the offer is put out by them I assume I'm staying up with B and not going back to bed.

BIL and his family hit the road early, they had a 6.5 hour drive to Msla, and we hung out until around 1:00. B slept the whole way home, it was awesome, and I have everything put away, bills paid, the house organized, and a load of whites done. I'm tired and should be in bed rather than writing but addictions are a *****. B went down really easily and I hope he STTN, it's hard telling how he'll do when everything's been scrambled. I'm really looking forward to being home next weekend so we can relax.

B rolled over twice today and this time I think it was from him meaning to. He's done it twice before but I think those have been flukes. Then he got really tired and frustrated so I was scolded for about 5 min (longest one yet). He's so much like my family it's scary! He was really happy to see his kicking piano when we got home and immediately started kicking the bird's face, the horse was a big hit too, it's cute seeing him so happy to be home.

Well I better call it a night, happy 2007!

B slept ok last night for our transition back to normal. He did wake at 1:00 and was wide awake, I went in 3 times to give him the pacifier and tell him it was still night time and he needed to sleep more and let mommy sleep more. The third time was a charm at least. He’s been a stinker about taking his medicine so I’ve had to give him the pacifier and sneak the medicine in the corner of his mouth, it’s rather annoying. We finished his ear drops yesterday so he should be happy about that, not that he’ll realize anything’s different.

I deleted my weekly meetings with my ex-boss from my calendar today and that felt really good. Now I’m going through her files to see if I need to keep stuff or if I can toss it, then I hope to finish consolidating our expenses with accounting. I’m tired today and hopefully I can get my bum into bed earlier tonight, we’ll see.

I’m having a hard time deciding whether to try to break B of the pacifier at night or to just leave it until he’s a year. The pro to the pacifier over his fingers is that I can take it away from him but the downfall is that he’ll wake at night and want me to put his pacifier back in his mouth. Some nights he settles himself without the pacifier but other nights he wants it. I think I may try this weekend without the pacifier and see how it goes, I also have a 3 day weekend coming up next weekend and I can try then also, as long as we stay home which I’m hoping. When we’re away from home or he’s not feeling good there’s no point in putting all of us through the misery. Plus he gets extra spoiled when things aren’t the norm. We were talking about how B slept at my parents over Christmas and DH mentioned that we brought him to bed with us because he kept waking and MIL’s face clearly stated she thought that was horrible. I didn’t care to mention that we only do that under special circumstances and I’m sure she thinks we sleep with him every night. He does great on his own when we’re home but when we’re not home it’s a totally different story and I can’t blame him. On Friday night we went without the pacifier, he fell asleep fine without it but he sure had more of a struggle falling back to sleep after he woke. I wonder how he’d do if I put his hand to his mouth instead of his pacifier? Maybe I’ll try that this week and see.