Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Family Friday

School is back in session and things are going well. P is adjusting to day care - our sitter rocks which makes it easy on all invovled. She has had a couple nights where she got up in the night to eat but she is napping, playing, and being generally good. She is eating like a champ. I am staying ahead too!




J is adjusting too. He is getting up with me and taking P before work. I love him for that. I think that dropping P off would be hard. I get the easy job of pick up. He also does a lot in the evening by bathing and feeding P before bed. We have a great balance going and I don't appreciate him for that enough.




I am doing well. I have really learned to multi-task a lot. The only time I haven't is while I pump at school. I have been playing on my IPad. I should try to do a little school work but games are so much easier ;). Being a working mom is hard but I love my job!!! I just wish I could do what I do and get more sleep. If anyone figures that one out - let me know!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Look really close - you can get a quick peak!


Milestone Monday

So it's not Monday but this is too big to not post.



P has kind of rolled once from back to front but never made it the whole way over. On Monday, J and I were talking and I put her down to look at Gracie. Then next thing we know she is over!! I have video of her doing her second roll and this is the third. We just kept rolling her over! She is getting too big too fast!!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Milestone Monday



On Saturday Grammy and Poppy came down for a visit. While J and Poppy were grilling, Grammy and I were surprised with this:




I am calling this a roll over. I know that it is not quite there but it is as close as it has ever been for us!


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Ready, Set, ....

Tomorrow is go! The school year (with kids) starts tomorrow. I feel like it is a marathon every year and this one is no exception. I feel the least organized but things will go on! I love my daughter and staying home all summer has been soooo fun but I am ready to go back (well sort of).

I have spent the least amount of time in my whole career getting my room ready. It is fine and organized but not to my typical standards. I have all of my plans and copies for the week but there are some little things that I have not yet finished. It will all get done but on a different timeline than in the past.

I am very excited to meet my new students and hang in the hall with my friends. I am excited for football - high school, college, and NFL. I am ready for fall temps and the leaves changing. But for tonight it was a few extra cuddles with P and an early night for J and I. Goodnight moon!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Busy weekend, even busier week

We have a full weekend this weekend. Today I had a baby shower to attend, J had a haircut, and MIL and FIL were down for the day. Tomorrow we have our regular cleaning/getting stuff done, a cook out for my mom's birthday, and getting ready for the week. Next week I am back to school (work) full time. I am glad and sad at the same time.

As I have mentioned before, I LOVE my job. I am not a huge fan of getting up early but don't mind in the end since that means I am home by 3:30. I love being on a schedule and knowing the basics of what will happen each day before it starts. But I have loved being with P all summer and will miss her while I am at school.

I am hoping that the fact that we are starting on a full 5 day week will blow by and I will be sitting here next Saturday telling you about the great week we all had. With that said, know that I will ocassionally complain about getting up early, grading, and/or dealing with stupid stuff! I hope you are having a great weekend and your week breezes by too!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for two things that happned yesterday. The first is that P turned 5 months old. I am so grateful that I have been able to spend most of her first 5 months with her. I am headed back to work tomorrow - I teach which has made me a stay at home mom until now (basically). Here is a little progression:





The other thing that I am thankful for is that P visited the allergist. I was super nervous about going since I knew that they would doing some scratch testing. She was a champ and tested clean!!! This means that I will stay dairy and soy free for a while (potentially until I am done breastfeeding) but she will outgrow these intolerances. Yeah! I have had a taste of dealing with allergies and I have a new appreciation for people who live with this.


















Monday, August 15, 2011

Milestone Monday



I actually have two things that are newer for P. The first is the use of the jumperoo. She has been in it for a couple weeks now, but a little over a week ago (a little bit of a cheat) she started actually jumping in it herself! She is adorable in it!!!

The other milestone (that actually did happen this week) is that P learned to raspberry. J and I are not sure where she learned this but it is so cute. I have been trying to get it on video so we have it. I am nervous how this may make solids messier but I know that is still a while off!!


Sunday, August 14, 2011

I love Big Brother

I have a confession to make. I LOVE reality TV. Those who know me, know that this. I use TV as an escape mostly. I don't want to necessarily learn and I don't like sci-fi. Enter reality TV.

It all started with Survivor. I watched it in the beginning but then all the other networks jumped in. I don't watch it all, but I watch a lot of them. I did not start watching Big Brother from the beginning but I did get into it early. It is a goofy game but I love to watch it. My husband complains but watches it with me (note: this is just about the only reality show he does watch with me).

So now with NFL and 60 Minutes (always shown in its entirety boo), I sometimes get the DVR messed up in watching it. Most of the time we catch it - like today. The PGA (seriously, golf ran over) messed it up so we reset the DVR in case we didn't get to it tonight. Well we did. It cut off right before we saw the second nominee. Argh! I will not ruin anyone who DVRed and have not watched but I will let you know that the info can be found online. I feel a little better, even though I did not get to hear the commentary from everyone that they show at the end. I guess I will see it Wednesday. Who will win the veto? Will it be used? We will see :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

I am already bad at this!

Well, I do have an excuse - not that it means anything. This was my last full week before going back to school. I am torn. I love my job, the people I work with, having a schedule (yes, I am type A), but P will make going back harder. The things that make me feel better about it are that J drops off in the morning (I think that is the harder job) and I LOVE my sitter. And she loved P!

Other than that, this week was good. I can't give too much away as I plan on using some of the stuff in next week's posts - which will happen! I will say that I tried on my work clothes and they fit! I have not worn most of them since spring '10! It is like I have a whole new set of clothes!

I promise to be better at posting next week but make no promises about the first week of school :)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Milestone Monday (yes it's a day late)

P started her life as a "not so good" sleeper in many people's eyes. She would get up a few times a night in her first month-ish. The twice a night, follow by once a night for a long time. It was not too bad once we hit the once a night feeding because she always went right back down and she napped okay. When EVERYONE asked how she was sleeping, because they do, I would tell them. The I would say, "I am just hoping to have a regular schedule by August."

I guess P has been listening because in the past couple weeks she has begun sleeping through the night!!! She gets a bottle at about 8:00 each night and then the bedtime routine begins. It consists of: diaper change, swaddle, book, and I rock her. She sleeps in her room, in her crib. Since she has slept through the night she has been getting up between 5:00 and 6:00. This may sound early but I have 3 positives.

1. Once I go back to school, this is not a bad time for her to get up.
2. 6 hours is STTN for a baby and she is going at least 7.
3. On the weekends, she does go back to sleep for at least another hour.

I know we have some things to work on still - losing the swaddle, putting herself to sleep, but I have to embrace the progress we have!! I am getting 6-7 hours of sleep at a time!!!

Friday, August 5, 2011

New old fun

I knew when we decided to have a baby that I wanted to make baby food. I thought it would be fun since I like to cook. I thought it would save money because everything baby is expensive. I thought that it would be healthier due to me picking the ingredients. I think that is is really fun, not expensive, and good for P. Well, the last one isn't official since we won't start her on solids until she is 6 months old.

Even with the lag in her starting solids, I have time to make some now. Using one of the three (obsess much???) cookbooks I have I picked several "first foods" to make. Now in the freezer we have acorn squash, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, and plums. I will be adding peaches tomorrow. I hope to add pears, apricots, zuchinni, and pumpkin. That should get us started.

I don't think I should do any "stage 2" foods until we know about any other allergies. This will be hard since I have had so much fun making these. I feel good about picking out the fruit and vegetables. I enjoy cooking (enough said again). I love organizing the newest additions to the freezer stash. It makes me want a deep freezer - a girl can dream right???

Thursday, August 4, 2011

My first try...

I read a lot of my friends blogs and several other blogs for ideas and inspiration. It is a great way to connect with others, share big moments, and gather help. And so this begins for me! I hope to inspire, share, and inquire! Please comment as you can so I know how I'm doing!

Since it's Thursday so here's my "Thankful Thursday" thought!

Today I am thankful for my friend Amy, her daughter, and several hundred other men and women who are headed for Chicago this weekend to participate in the Breast Cancer 3 Day. This is a 60 mile walk over 3 days that raises money for Susan G Komen. Each individual has to raise $2400 and the training is time consuming. Think marathon training but at a walking pace. There are 14 others (held in various cities) but Chicago is special to me.


I have a few friend who have also completed a 3 Day and, like blogging, I am a follower of all things cool so I wanted to do one too. Honestly it is mainly because my mom and sister-in-law are survivors and since the day of my mom's diagnosis it has been a cause close to my heart. We even gave P the middle name Hope because of that. So I approached some of my friends with the details and Amy was in.


Thank goodness for her for being with me AND her camping equipment/experience. Why? Because after you walk 20+ miles in a day, you want to sleep on the ground! This was the part of the 3 Day I was most concerned about. Not the training, fund raising, travel, food. Nope the camping! My motto has always been, "someone did not invent a bed for me to sleep on the ground!" The camping turned out to be a little fun - not enough to do it regularly - but bearable.


Amy and I walked Chicago in 2009. This is an amazing experience! I hope to do another sometime - at least one. But today - and the whole weekend - Amy and Miranda will really be on my mind!!!


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This is Amy and I at the end of the 3 Day!








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This is us in our tent. I am not a camper so I needed photographic proof that I actually did it.