13 Months - Drake

On June 2^nd, just days after you turned one, you took your first steps.  You had given no hints that you were even close to walking, and in fact that day I was talking to a friend and our neighbor separately that I didn’t see you walking any time soon.  Then you did it!  You took four steps the first time and took a few more after that.  Then you went a few days with not walking at all.  Now I’d say you walk about half the time and can get across the room in one stride without dropping to your knees.  And yesterday for the first time you stood up on your own without pulling up on anything.  That surprised me too!

Your sleep…oh your sleep.  I always felt for those parents who had one year olds who wouldn’t sleep through the night and now I’m one of them.  You are good about going down for the night around 8:00 but your wake-up(s) during the night are so random.  Usually you’ll go till around 4 or 5 am, but more than I’d like you have gotten up around 2 or 3 and then sometimes again around 5.  We need to get better about having daddy go in and try and settle you down without needing to eat because at this point I know you don’t ‘need’ it.  You have started sleeping in later though.  You used to be up by 8:30 most days, but it’s not uncommon for you to sleep in until 9:30 or even 10 every once in a while!  On days when that happens you usually only take one nap in the early afternoon, but when you wake up earlier for the day, we still try and get in two naps.  I don’t expect the two naps to last much longer though. 

One of the culprits of your lack of sleep might be your teeth.  Your two top teeth in the front are coming in, and I hate to say it, but I think they might be a little crooked!  I hope not, but only time will tell, and even if they are, it will just be one thing to make you, you.   We stopped with the bottles this month but struggled to find a sippy that you would drink from.  There were several days that you would hardly drink anything other than when I nursed you.  I think we’ve finally found a cup that you like, but you still aren’t a big drinker.  Water is your first choice, followed by grape kool-aid (thanks JJ) and then whole milk you aren’t too crazy about.   And then I still nurse you before bed, if you wake up during the night, first thing in the morning, and every once in a while during the day if I’m home.  One day while nursing you bit/pulled and caused a blister.  The days following were so painful, all day every day and I was so afraid that’d be the end of our breastfeeding experience.  But I pushed through, changed positions on that one side until it healed, and things are back to normal.  With regular food you are doing really well.  You have a good appetite but once you are done, you’re done, and anything that’s still on your tray will be on the floor in a matter of seconds.  It is infuriating and funny all at the same time to watch you with such might grab for each piece of food and stare at me as you toss it over the edge. 

In general you are a pretty laid back little guy.  Your sister was very into watching tv at this age and you could care less.  I really love watching you go from toy to toy in the living room and exploring.  You are about an inch shy of being able to climb up onto the couch on your own but you give it everything you’ve got to try.  And you’re creative too, climbing up on a toy or us to give you the little boost you need.  If you can’t get it though, you get frustrated and cry.  If we don’t have the gate up, you are quick to crawl up the stairs and explore the rest of the house, typically making a beeline right to the dog’s water bowl.  When you are ready to come back downstairs, you inch your way to the top step, turn around, and start sliding down on your belly.  It amazes me how you (and kids in general) just know how to do this stuff!

Your smile is contagious and I can’t get enough of your belly laughs.  Tickling you is one of my favorite things; watching you scream and squirm but yet at the same time beg for me to do it again.  But then at the end of the day, the cuddles that you still give me along with giving me a kiss, which to you is a gentle head butt, are a nice way to wind down and reflect on my little guy.

 

Long Overdue

I don't think I've taken a picture with my dad and brother since my wedding day almost six years ago.  That's pretty crazy!  So I made it a point to bring our nice camera to dinner yesterday for Father's Day so we could get some updated family photos.  No one was really dressed for the occasion, I hadn't done my hair or make-up, but Chloe was sporting her pretty new boutique dress that I won for Mother's Day and she made the pictures look good. 

I took just a few pictures of Chloe alone and then a few with her and JJ.  She was having a good time being spun around by him in the backyard. 

Then after dinner we all went out front and rotated taking pictures of each other.  I had brought the tripod so we could all get in a shot, but of course I didn't check to make sure all the parts were there and one was missing. 

JJ always has to be silly and make us laugh, so most of these pictures are us trying not to bust out laughing.  Then when my brother was taking some of the four of us, many of them were either out of focus or JJ was being his normal self making faces or putting bunny ears on me. 

 

I'm glad we got some pictures with my dad and the kids though, and I love this one of my dad with Chloe.

And I couldn't leave out these gems.  Poor buddy wanted to be put down but it looks like my brother is torturing him.  We thought it was cute how he covered his eyes like it was the worst thing in the world.

The Work Saga Continues...When Will It End?

I feel like mine and JJ's work schedule has been such a shit show the last year or so, that I have to document it so years from now we can look back on it and wonder how we made it through.  Let's see, where should I pick up this time...

At the end of March, JJ ended his stint with on call work.  He had done that for about four years and through most of that time it worked out great.  It was just in the last six months or so that it started not working out so well.  He was getting called in more, especially during the week, and we had no child care so I was having to either miss a whole day of work or leave work immediately to relieve him of watching the kids.

He got on a job that was inside (yay!) and had set days and start/end times.  The only bummer was we found out the day he got the job that it was going to be short lived because someone else was already coming after it.  And it was.  It lasted about two months before he got bumped off that job.  The good thing about him getting bumped was he could then choose any job he wanted that he could hold with his seniority.  He chose a job that works Thursday - Sunday mornings, Monday afternoon, and then he's off Tuesday and Wednesday.  And for the most part they are shorter shifts and he's home by 2:30 on the weekends so we still have a good chunk of the day to hang out.

This actually worked out really well with my schedule; the only thing I switched was instead of working a half day on Tuesday I now work a half day on Friday.  This new schedule meant that we had to find childcare for a full day on Thursday and a half day on Friday.  I got on ca.re.com and not only listed a job opening but also just started emailing potential sitters.  We had a crazy week of interviews, like seven in a matter of three days.  Most of the people we were looking at were either college students home for the summer or school teachers that were off for the summer.  We ended up going with a middle school teacher that will be with us through the first week in August.  She's been great so far and the kids seem to like her.  It just sucks that we'll have to go through the search all over again in about a month.

I wrote about this previously, but her first day on the job, Chloe puked four times and her second day on the job, Drake had a fever.  Thank goodness she came back the following week! :)

JJ really likes his job and likes the guy he works with so that's a plus.  The schedule he had before this was so boring and his days dragged on; now that he's outside he likes the exercise he gets and the days typically go by faster for him.  It's weird getting ready at the same time in the mornings though!  We've never really had to do that before and after being together for so long and not having the same schedule, it's odd to start now.  I will say I look forward to the days when we have both been at work, the kids have been with the sitter, and we all get to come together at home refreshed from each other and enjoy the family time.  I feel like on days that either I'm home with the kids or JJ is, as soon as the other one gets home, that person wants a break from the kids and we go opposite directions.  This way we're all anxious to see one another.

That's the work saga in a nutshell.  I hope to not have anymore posts centered around our work schedules for a long, long time!

Dirty Thirty

I wanted to post real quick asking for suggestions.  My 30th birthday is next month and falls on a Saturday.  I'm not one to celebrate birthdays of my own with a big party or really a celebration of any sort besides maybe going to dinner with my family.  But this one feels different.  I'm not pregnant, even though I don't drink much, my kids are a bit older, and I'm not tied to Drake anymore nursing him around the clock.  And it's the big 3-0, right??

What are some fun ideas that I could do for my birthday?  A big outing with friends to a local sporting event, soccer, baseball game?  A winery tour?  A short getaway for just JJ and I?  Did you do anything special for your 30th birthday (if you've hit that milestone?)

Where Did My Healthy Kids Go?

About a week before Drake’s birthday, Chloe was stuffy and seemed like she was coming down with a cold.  The very next day, Drake was more congested than I’ve ever seen him, and hearing his poor clogged nose as he tried to nurse broke my heart.  Other than being congested and sneezing, he seemed to feel fine though.  We were thankful it was happening now and not over his birthday.  The Thursday before his birthday, we were all in the kitchen and we were trying to get Chloe to eat something for lunch (now I can’t remember what it was).  She took a bite, covered her mouth and gave me this oh shit look like she was going to gag.  She didn’t, but a few minutes later she walked up to me, laid her head in my lap, and about a minute later, she puked all over the floor.  Great…We got her cleaned up and that was it, she seemed fine.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday.  I had put Chloe to bed and JJ was out running errands.  I no sooner walked back into the living room and I heard gagging and choking coming from her room.  I hauled ass back up there to find she was covered in vomit and was scared and crying.  That is one thing that really scares me, is one of my kids vomiting in their sleep or laying down and choking on it.  In both of my kid’s lives, we’ve hardly dealt with any sickness, especially vomiting, and of course I hate dealing with it, but I’m surprisingly getting better at taking care of things when it’s my own kids.  So I grabbed a trash can while she finished and was able to get her into the bathroom for a bath.  She was burning up with a fever and breathing a little funny, so she ended up sleeping in our bed that night, which has never ever happened.  JJ even said he was thinking about taking her to the hospital in the middle of the night because he was that concerned. 

The next day (Wednesday) we had Drake’s 12 month well visit scheduled so I called the office first thing in the morning to see if we could bring Chloe in too.  They were fine with that, so off we all went to the doctor.  Two hours later, a strep culture that almost brought up anything remaining in Chloe’s stomach, a toe prick that lasted five minutes for Drake while the nurse milked his big toe to get a small vile of blood, and three shots later we were headed home.  Her rapid test came back negative but I was kind of hopeful it would come back positive so we’d have a cause for her feeling so crappy.  The rest of the day both kids napped and just kind of laid low, but seemed to be feeling better.  The nurse had given Chloe some Tylenol while we were there and she had perked up before we even left.

That afternoon we had interviews for a new part time sitter.  Unfortunately the three women we met with either didn’t get to meet my kids at all because they were sleeping, or if they did meet them, they weren’t their normal, happy selves.  We ended up going with a girl who is a middle school teacher and will be with us through the summer.  She knew Chloe wasn’t feeling very well so we said we’d keep an eye on her the rest of the night and make the call later whether or not she was to start the next day or if I was going to stay home.  Since she seemed to be fine, we went ahead and had her come out Thursday morning for her first day with the kids.

She sent me a text about 10:30, shortly after Chloe woke up saying she had tried to give her yogurt for breakfast, but she got sick.  Crap!  I felt awful that this girl had to deal with a sick kid and offered to come home.  She said she seemed to be feeling a little better and was just lying on the couch and wanted me to know.  I told her to keep me updated and I’d be happy to come home if needed.  A short time later she called me saying Chloe had gotten sick three more times, she’d no sooner take a sip of water and it’d come right back up.  She was going to give Chloe a bath and see if that helped.  Again I felt so bad that not only was she dealing with this, but I wasn’t there to help Chloe.  I talked to her on the phone, and through tears she said she thought a bath would help so I let her go so she could hop in the tub.  I called the doctor and was told to avoid water and give her watered down juice or sprite in 5ml spurts every 5-10 minutes.  That seemed to help and I didn’t hear anything more from the sitter the rest of the day.  Oh, and she did Chloe's laundry too because she was in desperate need of clean clothes - how awesome was that of her?!

Friday morning when I nursed Drake before work he seemed a bit warm and I even told JJ I hate to say this, but Turtle P felt warm.  I went on to work and about halfway through the morning, I got a text from the sitter that she thought little man had a fever.  We could just not catch a break!  I only work half days on Friday now so I came home at 1:30 and took over from there. He definitely had a fever and was fussy.  He had slept until 10 that morning, was fussy when he woke up so she tried putting him down at 11 and he slept for another two hours! 

Over the weekend we thought things were finally behind us and both kids seemed to be over whatever they had.  Until last night.  I put Chloe to bed with a half cup of water.  She started crying a few minutes after I left her room and right as JJ got home, so he went to tuck her in.  He exchanged her half cup of water with a full cup of grape kool-aid (see where I’m going with this?)  She kept coughing and we thought it was fake.  She’s been doing this ever since she got sick the first time, coughing, saying her tummy hurts, but clearly she’s faking it.  We were starting to get annoyed last night because as soon as we’d leave her room, she’d start crying again, coughing, and we’d have to go back in and tell her to stop.  After the last time JJ walked out of her room, I heard the familiar sound of gagging/choking and saw her getting sick again on the monitor.  Damn grape kool-aid!  Into the tub she went, again, at 11 pm.  Into the washer went all of her sheets and blankets.  We put her in our bed for a short time, and after she started asking for snackies and coo-coo (kool-aid) we figured she was okay enough to go back to bed.  I kept the monitor on her room all night just in case, but we never heard a peep out of her. 

I really don’t think she was sick last night, I think she made herself get sick.  It’s like she enjoys the attention she gets when she’s sick, so she does it on purpose.  That sucks!!  I hate not being able to give her food without her coughing, saying her tummy hurts, and fearing she’ll get sick.  It was pretty cute though, after I got her out of the tub and was holding her wrapped up in a towel in my arms she asked me to sing twinkle star.  We’ve never been one to sing to our kids although I sing more to Drake.  So I sang the song, she calmed down, and then asked for JJ to sing it.  When I took her in her room I told JJ and he started, only getting through the first two lines before saying he didn’t know the rest.  It was funny and adorable, so we finished the song together. 

It is heartbreaking to see your kids sick and it makes me so thankful that we have had extremely healthy children since they’ve been born.  Whatever this is that they can’t seem to shake is welcome to leave any time now.  And I hope the sitter comes back on Thursday and that my kids didn’t scare her away.:)