I stole this from Amanda at Random Thoughts.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags. I am wrapping paper retarded. My wrapping looks like a 3 year old did it. Last year when I was pregnant I guilt tripped my co-worker into wrapping some of my gifts for me when he came by to work on my computer. I have no shame.
2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. Why waste money on a real one when I can use the same one over and over? Not to mention the shedding of needles and watering the fire hazard.
3. When do you put up the tree? Typically the week before Thanksgiving because we usually go out of town and I want it up when I get home after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day or the next.
5. Do you like eggnog? No, I had tried the non-alcoholic stuff at the grocery store and thought it was ok but I convinced my step-mom to make the real stuff when I was in college and it was nasty!!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? This is a hard one. The only thing that sticks out in my mind is my dollhouse and all the tiny things that went into it. I loved my dollhouse more than any other toy.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? of course. It doesn't feel like Christmas without it. He is the reason for the season as they say.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My stepdad. The man has everything.
9. Easiest person to buy for? My husband. He wants everything and is very specific with his wish list.
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I was given back a DVD I gave someone as a gift. Its not the gift so much as the fact that they wrapped it up and gave it back to me in all seriousness. I already owned a copy of that movie so I gave it to someone else.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Early November. I try to be done by December 1. I do most of my shopping online so I have to leave time for shipping and wrapping.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Guilty as charged.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My grandma's homemade cheesecake and her dressing.
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear, and they cannot twinkle. Twinkly lights on the outside of the house only. I like to sit and stare at the tree and the twinkly lights give me a headache.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Angels we have heard on high
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. I grew up with divorced parents and got used to splitting my holidays.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? hmm...Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Blitzen, Donder, yeah I don't remember any more
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I bought a nice Santa at Hobby Lobby for the top of the tree
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve. The rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Christmas sweaters. Socks are cute. Sweaters are taking it too far.
23. What I love most about Christmas? Christmas Eve church service with my family. Then Christmas breakfast after we open gifts the next morning. Really, just family togetherness.
Friday, November 30, 2007
10 months
Bear is 10 months old today or tomorrow depending on how you count it. I'm never sure on what day to count it on since November doesn't have a 31st. But his adjusted age would have been 8 months on the 23rd. So anyways, he is older than he was yesterday.
He is doing much much better health wise. I went to pick him up from daycare today and the teacher said she thought he was hungry because she caught him sucking on another baby's toes, twice. So he either has a budding foot fetish or he has his appetite back.
We also noticed this evening that his bottom gums were really swollen and just the tiniest bit of white was peeking through. This is tooth number 1. On the one hand I am really excited but on the other hand I am sad to see that little gummy smile go away.
We are also meeting with a new potential child care provider next week so cross your fingers for us. I have been praying and praying for some alternate solution to the child care = plague equation. This is a lady who is 5 minutes from our house. $43.00 a week cheaper than my daycare AFTER my discount and she only keeps 5 kids + her own kid. She has a nanny for her kid. What I thought was really striking was that I didn't originally want to contact her due to my fear of at home child care providers but I felt drawn to her if that makes any reason.
I know that there are many wonderful home child care providers but there are also the ones who put kids in pack in plays in the basement and cover them with blankets when the inspector comes. I read too many scary stories in the news. Anyways, I read her last inspection report online on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website and she didn't have any violations unlike some of the others who had 4 cats in the house with no vaccination records, unrestrained babies in swings and highchairs, uncovered fish ponds in the back yard, etc. I slept on it and the next morning I still felt the nagging urge to contact her. So I emailed her and asked if she had any availability. She emailed me back and said she didn't. So I figured it wasn't meant to be. Then later that day she emails me back and said one of the older kids she watches just got accepted to a program he was on the waiting list for and she now has an open spot. She offered it to me first since I had just contacted her. So we are going to meet her after work next week. I hope this goes well.
He is doing much much better health wise. I went to pick him up from daycare today and the teacher said she thought he was hungry because she caught him sucking on another baby's toes, twice. So he either has a budding foot fetish or he has his appetite back.
We also noticed this evening that his bottom gums were really swollen and just the tiniest bit of white was peeking through. This is tooth number 1. On the one hand I am really excited but on the other hand I am sad to see that little gummy smile go away.
We are also meeting with a new potential child care provider next week so cross your fingers for us. I have been praying and praying for some alternate solution to the child care = plague equation. This is a lady who is 5 minutes from our house. $43.00 a week cheaper than my daycare AFTER my discount and she only keeps 5 kids + her own kid. She has a nanny for her kid. What I thought was really striking was that I didn't originally want to contact her due to my fear of at home child care providers but I felt drawn to her if that makes any reason.
I know that there are many wonderful home child care providers but there are also the ones who put kids in pack in plays in the basement and cover them with blankets when the inspector comes. I read too many scary stories in the news. Anyways, I read her last inspection report online on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website and she didn't have any violations unlike some of the others who had 4 cats in the house with no vaccination records, unrestrained babies in swings and highchairs, uncovered fish ponds in the back yard, etc. I slept on it and the next morning I still felt the nagging urge to contact her. So I emailed her and asked if she had any availability. She emailed me back and said she didn't. So I figured it wasn't meant to be. Then later that day she emails me back and said one of the older kids she watches just got accepted to a program he was on the waiting list for and she now has an open spot. She offered it to me first since I had just contacted her. So we are going to meet her after work next week. I hope this goes well.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Happy Thoughts
I have been posting nothing but doom and gloom and plague and pestilence for the past week or so. I decided to wait to post until I was in a better frame of mind. Since my 11:45 dentist appointment was rescheduled to 3 weeks from now I am in a better mood. It is amazing how such a small thing as someone scraping my teeth can freak me out for days in advance. I don't like people messing with my mouth. I swear that braces caused me permanent emotional scarring that I may never recover from. I still remember the night my water broke, I was so freaked out about a dentist appointment the next morning I could barely sleep. Luckily, when the baby came I got to postpone my appointment for months. How sad is that? Labor, pulmonary edema, emergency c-section, premature baby? Nothing to the fear of a thorough teeth cleaning.
Bear is doing well so far. Knock on wood. He is still screaming when I put him to bed at night BUT he is going to sleep pretty quickly and mostly importantly, staying asleep. I think the comment from my bedtime blues post about separation anxiety may be spot on. He has recently started to really watch us when we are there and watch for us when we aren't. He is fine if he can see us but if we put him to bed and he can hear us talking in the next room it upsets him. In the mornings he is usually sitting up looking over the edge of the crib for me or pulling down the bumper pad in his crib so he can watch the door through the slats. It absolutely does wonders for my ego to see him light up when I enter the room and hold up his little chubby arms to me to pick him up. He lights up now when we go in to pick him up at daycare and watches me as I leave the room each morning.
My work has been going pretty well. My student worker is an angel from heaven and has made life so much more tolerable. We have been slow but this has allowed me to catch up on the mountains of paperwork threatening to tip over and bury me in an avalanche each time I walk in my office.
The weather is sunny and gorgeous with just a hint of frost in the air when I leave the house in the morning. This is a huge improvement over our weekend of gray clouds, rain, and cold.
So happy thoughts.
Bear is doing well so far. Knock on wood. He is still screaming when I put him to bed at night BUT he is going to sleep pretty quickly and mostly importantly, staying asleep. I think the comment from my bedtime blues post about separation anxiety may be spot on. He has recently started to really watch us when we are there and watch for us when we aren't. He is fine if he can see us but if we put him to bed and he can hear us talking in the next room it upsets him. In the mornings he is usually sitting up looking over the edge of the crib for me or pulling down the bumper pad in his crib so he can watch the door through the slats. It absolutely does wonders for my ego to see him light up when I enter the room and hold up his little chubby arms to me to pick him up. He lights up now when we go in to pick him up at daycare and watches me as I leave the room each morning.
My work has been going pretty well. My student worker is an angel from heaven and has made life so much more tolerable. We have been slow but this has allowed me to catch up on the mountains of paperwork threatening to tip over and bury me in an avalanche each time I walk in my office.
The weather is sunny and gorgeous with just a hint of frost in the air when I leave the house in the morning. This is a huge improvement over our weekend of gray clouds, rain, and cold.
So happy thoughts.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Job? What Job?
I dropped Bear off at daycare at 8 this morning and headed off to work. My second day back after being out for a week. At 10:48 the daycare calls and says he has loose bowels and I have to come get him. But they are being nice and say that IF I can get a doctor's note saying the medications he is on are causing this they will let him come in tomorrow. Otherwise I can keep him home another day. GGGGAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!
After having a mini panic attack, I pick up the phone and call my husband who absolutely cannot get away from work today. He took off the Friday before last to get Bear and stayed home with him Monday and Wednesday of last week. I took Monday and Tuesday of last week. I call the doctor's office and explain to the girl on the phone that I NEED A FREAKING DOCTORS NOTE , AGAIN (even though I just got one Sunday from them to bring him back to daycare on MONDAY!). She takes my frantic message and tells me the nurse will call me back. I grab my purse and head out the door to get Bear while cursing the daycare under my breath.
I get to the daycare and they start telling me all about how they are sorry but the state requires them to send him home. I explained that the doctor gave him a clean bill of health SUNDAY and said he could go back to daycare Monday with the caveat that the medication was going to cause an upset stomach. Thats all fine and good they say but they need another note stating that so they can put it in the records in case another kid gets sick. They also mention they have 4 babies who haven't come back yet from the Thanksgiving holiday because they are sick. One has a confirmed case of RSV. The teacher brings in the center director to explain all this to me as well. I understand CYA but seriously? I could have had the doctor fax them the note right then so he could stay but NO I had to take him home today and bring a note tomorrow.
I grab him and strap him in his carseat and run home to grab a blanket and some toys. I snuck him back into my office so I could try to finish a few things before I went home. And because I suck at being sneaky, I left my office keys at home and have to carry him through the office looking for someone with a master key. I get let into my office and put him on the floor with some toys and finished a couple of things. We head home and when I get home and settled in the nurse calls to say I can come pick up the note. Half way across town. Closer to my work that I just came from than my house. So I call my husband and he is an hour and a half away and won't be able to make it by the doctor's office before they close. So I load Bear back up in the car and we got to the doctors where the girl at the desk HAS NO CLUE where the note is. After waiting 10 minutes I get the note. While I am there I notice the flu shot clinic is right there and Bear is due for his 2nd shot. So I decide to walk over and get that done. Of course the line is several people deep with everyone needing to talk to the nurse for 10 minutes. We finally got that done and headed home 30 minutes later.
I'm sorry this is running so long but I am beyond stressed. I have no more sick leave and I am burning through my vacation days. I'm freaking out about the idea of what happens when I run out of leave completely? My husband has about burned that bridge too. We have to find another solution but I only have 3 options.
1. Quit my job of 4 months and make a dramatic cut in our budget
2. Find another child care arrangement (I have been looking but I haven't found anything better)
3. Keep with the status quo and hope Bear finally gets immunity to some of this junk and stays healthy for awhile.
I'm so stressed and frustrated.
After having a mini panic attack, I pick up the phone and call my husband who absolutely cannot get away from work today. He took off the Friday before last to get Bear and stayed home with him Monday and Wednesday of last week. I took Monday and Tuesday of last week. I call the doctor's office and explain to the girl on the phone that I NEED A FREAKING DOCTORS NOTE , AGAIN (even though I just got one Sunday from them to bring him back to daycare on MONDAY!). She takes my frantic message and tells me the nurse will call me back. I grab my purse and head out the door to get Bear while cursing the daycare under my breath.
I get to the daycare and they start telling me all about how they are sorry but the state requires them to send him home. I explained that the doctor gave him a clean bill of health SUNDAY and said he could go back to daycare Monday with the caveat that the medication was going to cause an upset stomach. Thats all fine and good they say but they need another note stating that so they can put it in the records in case another kid gets sick. They also mention they have 4 babies who haven't come back yet from the Thanksgiving holiday because they are sick. One has a confirmed case of RSV. The teacher brings in the center director to explain all this to me as well. I understand CYA but seriously? I could have had the doctor fax them the note right then so he could stay but NO I had to take him home today and bring a note tomorrow.
I grab him and strap him in his carseat and run home to grab a blanket and some toys. I snuck him back into my office so I could try to finish a few things before I went home. And because I suck at being sneaky, I left my office keys at home and have to carry him through the office looking for someone with a master key. I get let into my office and put him on the floor with some toys and finished a couple of things. We head home and when I get home and settled in the nurse calls to say I can come pick up the note. Half way across town. Closer to my work that I just came from than my house. So I call my husband and he is an hour and a half away and won't be able to make it by the doctor's office before they close. So I load Bear back up in the car and we got to the doctors where the girl at the desk HAS NO CLUE where the note is. After waiting 10 minutes I get the note. While I am there I notice the flu shot clinic is right there and Bear is due for his 2nd shot. So I decide to walk over and get that done. Of course the line is several people deep with everyone needing to talk to the nurse for 10 minutes. We finally got that done and headed home 30 minutes later.
I'm sorry this is running so long but I am beyond stressed. I have no more sick leave and I am burning through my vacation days. I'm freaking out about the idea of what happens when I run out of leave completely? My husband has about burned that bridge too. We have to find another solution but I only have 3 options.
1. Quit my job of 4 months and make a dramatic cut in our budget
2. Find another child care arrangement (I have been looking but I haven't found anything better)
3. Keep with the status quo and hope Bear finally gets immunity to some of this junk and stays healthy for awhile.
I'm so stressed and frustrated.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Bedtime Blues
Today was the first day back to work in a week. I "worked" a 1/2 day Wednesday but that barely counts. This past week sucked so much I was glad to be going back to work. I can't believe I just said that. Bear is being a bear lately. We got him all better and got the clean bill of health yesterday except for the thrush.
The anti-fungal is working great and his mouth is all clear. The diaper rash is doing much better too. But what is driving me crazy is his sleeping. We have been blessed with one of those rare, precious children who goes down for the night and immediately falls asleep and sleeps for 12 hour stretches. The past several days he has cried immediately as soon as we put him down. He has also been waking up crying several times in the night. I don't know what to do. I let him cry for a little while and if he doesn't calm down then I go in and get him. I sooth him until he is calm and then put him back to bed. Is it normal for a 10 month old who was a previously great sleeper to start acting like this out of the blue? It is possible he is teething as he hasn't gotten his first tooth yet.
Gah!! I just want my healthy, sleepy baby back.
The anti-fungal is working great and his mouth is all clear. The diaper rash is doing much better too. But what is driving me crazy is his sleeping. We have been blessed with one of those rare, precious children who goes down for the night and immediately falls asleep and sleeps for 12 hour stretches. The past several days he has cried immediately as soon as we put him down. He has also been waking up crying several times in the night. I don't know what to do. I let him cry for a little while and if he doesn't calm down then I go in and get him. I sooth him until he is calm and then put him back to bed. Is it normal for a 10 month old who was a previously great sleeper to start acting like this out of the blue? It is possible he is teething as he hasn't gotten his first tooth yet.
Gah!! I just want my healthy, sleepy baby back.
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