Preparing for work

I go back to work on Tuesday. This morning, when I woke up, I thought.. "two more days.." Now it is just barely over one. :(

The latter part of this week and the weekend were spent preparing for it.. laundry done, everyone's clothes laid out for the week, groceries bought for lunches, and I've been reading Hirkani's Daughters in preparation for the scheduling. It's about women who work and breastfeed- It's all real women's stories, and it's very helpful! I probably won't always be this prepared, but it certainly will help for the first week!

The only thing that I'm lacking is new clothes. :( Besides it being fall (and cold, cold weather already here!) and wanting to go shopping for that reason, I'm also stuck between my clothes. About two pairs of my pre-pregnancy pants fit. The others are still too tight, and my maternity clothes are too big. Hopefully I can find enough to wear. The pre-preggo pants fit everywhere but the tummy.. hopefully that'll continue going down over the next couple of months. I'm not TOO far off from it.

Westen and I baked orange pumpkin sugar cookies yesterday. Today I made almond bark pretzels. My dad also gave us a straw bale this past week, and we got four pumpkins to put around it. I love this time of year.

Another big thing I'm dreading about work (can you tell it's very much on my mind?!) is my car in the mornings! The heat doesn't warm up until you've been going over 30mph for several minutes. Since the daycare is here in town, I really don't go over 30 at all.. and it's only minutes away. If I start the car earlier, it still doesn't warm up. It's very aggravating, and I'm worried about it with my poor little baby! I don't want him to be cold. I'll have to have it looked at, but I've heard it's something Chrysler's do.. and even that will have to wait until we have the money to do so. We went through all our savings during my leave and what we have now is saved for Christmas. Maybe something will work out...

Tiny Treasures Tuesday: 2 months, GAL

Aeson is two months old now! He's starting to smile more and more.. it's absolutely darling! I have yet to catch it on camera, but I think I should be able to soon. :) We left him for the first time this weekend. Eric & I were supposed to go to a Cubs game but we ended up not getting our tickets and not wanting to go! So we just got a refund and decided to go on the Spoon River Drive and still let his parents watch the kids. I was a little nervous but all went well. Aeson was pretty cranky all day, but he is often.. even with us. I can't wait until he's a happier baby! The gas drops seem to help somewhat. I'm nervous about next week.. him going to daycare AND being home with Daddy.. when he's super attached to Mommy! Hopefully it'll be a relatively easy transition.

Aeson had his checkup yesterday and he has gained 3 whole pounds in the last month! He's 12lbs, 3oz and 24 inches long. That leaves him in the 58th percentile for weight and the 80th for height! He's definitely caught up. :) It's always reassuring to know that he's getting enough breastmilk! His head was only in the 20th percentile, I think, but it certainly doesn't look small. Westen's was always on the large end but it never looked like it either! Overall, Aeson looked very good. He does have a hernia on his belly button, but she said it was nothing to worry about.

I'm completely torn on whether or not to vaccinate. I've heard (and read) so many horror stories. I keep leaning both ways, depending on what I read. I need to decide soon too, because he starts daycare next week and his doctor would like them done before then if I decide to go ahead with it. I'm obsessed with learning all about it.. but pretty much everything really is just opinion.. nothing has been PROVEN either way. Puts mommy's in a hard place!

***

This week, Westen has been obsessed with his batman/spiderman/transformer figurines and football. He LOVES playing with his football, and it's so cute to hear him say things like "I'm deep!" He always, always has to show off and will continue to repeat things if people found them funny/cute. He's very imaginative with his figurines too.. building garages out of dominoes for his transformer.. getting the other figurines to climb on things.. etc!

He's also a sweet child.. He hates when he hears anything dies, and he was quite concerned about the fish we feed our (bigger) fish.

We had the meeting with the guardian ad litem (basically an attorney for Westen) last week and it went very well! She said she can tell Westen has such an optimistic outlook on life. :) She set up scenarios in which Eric would interact with Westen and, of course, all went well and the (good!) report should be completed this week.. leaving only the adoption hearing left to make it all final!

Job

I've been considering staying home and doing in-home daycare... I would have to watch 3 more kids (plus my 2) to make more than what I make at my job. I can't decide, though, not knowing what it will be like! Any thoughts/ideas/advice??

Tiny Treasures Tuesday: 8 weeks

(Westen and Kaden at the high school homecoming parade)

We went to my old high school's homecoming parade and game last weekend. Westen had a good time, even asking questions about the game of football. During half-time, the band was playing and Westen said it sounded like "a sad elephant." LOL! The only thing I can think of as to where he got this is Little Einsteins.. They put music to objects quite often. :)

Over the last week, Westen has been asking what a lot of words mean. Some are easier (demolition, job), while some are much harder (a model (like of a home), the future (to someone who doesn't even know what tomorrow means!)). Just now he asked what a heart is! :) He knows it's in his chest and "beeps," but I guess he wanted more detail!

Aeson's now 8 weeks old! I can hardly believe it. Of course gestationally he's only 4 weeks. After talking about him not smiling last week, he's had several small smiles over the last week. It makes us incredibly happy to see! They're the most darling things ever.

We also attended our first wedding and reception with Aeson.. He was very good during the wedding and slept the ENTIRE time at the reception! The picture above is from there. :)

And now.. he's screaming his little head off, so I better get to feeding him!

*write about your little ones! hosted by Lerin at mycatholicfamily.blogspot.com

Tiny Treasures Tuesday

Westen

Westen has been quite funny over the last week.

One day, I was telling him there were blankets in the basket by the sink. He had walked into the kitchen (where the basket was) and again asked where they were. The conversation went like this..
"By the sink Westen."
"What?"
"By the sink!" (louder)
"What? I can't hear you!"
"BY THE SINK!" (even louder)
"By the seat?" hahaha
"No! By the SINNNKK."
"Ohh.. by the sink!"
Haha, why I didn't just get up and show him I don't know.. maybe I was occupied by Baby at the time.. can't really remember!

He has also started this thing lately (going along with his dramatic attitude lately) about going to people's houses. He will say "But I thought I was going to Aunt Chelsea's house. Or grandma's house. Or Optimus Prime's house. I'll never get to go to anyone's house!" He always sticks in Optimus Prime or Batman or some such superhero's house.

Westen also saw a commercial about Aspbergers and officially thinks it is the funniest word ever. He first said "They can't say that! That's a bad word." I told him that it wasn't and since then, he has asked me several times "Are you sure?" followed by "Are you telling the truth?" (Another thing he has started asking about things :) .. because I'm often asking him this!)

Westen went to his first football game last weekend. He loved it! We're going to go to another this weekend.

He also got his flu shot yesterday. He did very well! We talked about it a lot in the days before. He decided the morning of that he was NOT going to get one. He ended up being fine, though, and I held him on my lap. He started screaming a little when she was coming toward him with the needle but didn't cry until she was actually pushing the serum into him. Then he only cried for a minute, which was a relief for me! He's been very concerned with no one touching that arm since, though!

Aeson

Aeson is 7 weeks old now! Westen was smiling frequently by this point and we have yet to see even the hint of a smile from Aeson. :( In fact, it is him this time that I don't have many updates on! He's still my precious little newborn.. I never really know whether to think of him as a 7 week old or to think of him as even younger, since he was born 4 weeks earlier than he was supposed to be. I'm still dreading going back to work and being away from him that long. We went to our first Le Leche League meeting last night and it was helpful to hear from other mommies who have done it.. and I got several books to read, which have made me feel better and given me tips for once we start. I plan on getting into the routine next week. :( Tomorrow is Aeson's surgery follow-up appointment. I expect all to go well, since he has shown no more signs of any problems.

He seems to sleep better on nights he has had a bath. Last night, he slept four and a half hours in one stretch! I've tried the bedtime bath & lotion, but it makes him too sleepy to nurse fully and then he wakes frequently to begin nursing.. which resulted in less sleep for me! So I think we're done with that stuff for a while!

Oh! I had to put a bunch of Aeson's clothes away already. :( He's outgrown all the newborn ones. Some he only wore once. Luckily my sister just found out she's having a boy (yay!!), so my first little nephew will get to re-use some of the clothes.

hosted by Lerin at mycatholicfamily.blogspot.com

2 weeks left, 6 week checkup

Well, we're starting to get into a routine around here it seems like. It always get messed up if we leave for the day. I have to go back to work in two weeks too, which I'm dreading. My little 9 week old boy will be at daycare all day long. :( I'm not sure how nursing will go after that either. I'm going to continue as long as I can, but he already has problems after having a bottle, so I'm expecting he will after he eats from them all day. :(

I had my six week check-up this past week. Everything went well, which is good. I've come to dread doctor appointments, because it seems they've only brought bad news for the past several months. Anyway, I asked her about the probabilities of problems like we had in future pregnancies. She said the knot in the cord was just a freak thing.. In her 18 years, she's seen 10 of them- one of which was ours. She said the previa is also a random thing. If it should happen again, the only additional problem it could cause were if it were right behind my incision.. then that could mean problems for me but not for the baby. Then, she said there is actually less of a chance of getting pre-eclampsia again, as long as it is same mother and father. The chances of pre-eclampsia increase when it is a different father. She said there's some research being done about this. If you don't know, pre-eclampsia is much like the baby is 'poisoning' your body. I found it odd that your body would know that it was dealing with different chromosomes than it had previously.. and pretty interesting too. But biology or whatever needs to know that with me, the change in fathers was a GOOD thing. :)

6 weeks/ Balloon Glow

(Aeson at the Balloon Glow this past weekend)

Aeson is now 6 weeks old! He's been awake and alert more often during the day. His days/nights with nursing and fussiness continue to fluctuate. He was just back at the doctor today for thrush, so we're both being treated.. I think it will be nice when everything is gone and over with and we can hopefully settle into a normal nursing routine.. and hopefully he will be less fussy!

Aeson absolutely HATES having his diaper changed. He screams every single time.

Eric's family hosted a baby shower for us this past weekend, and it was wonderful. The only bad thing was that Aeson was hungry the whole time, so hardly anyone got to hold him! My mom did a wonderful job of keeping him quiet until I was done with gifts. We got lots of nice things.. My favorites are the handmade things.. blankets and such.

(Westen at the Balloon Glow)

We went to our town's annual Balloon Glow this past weekend. Westen was very excited and he loved watching them fly. When they all landed, he kept saying he didn't want them to pop!

This week, Westen's been busy playing outside in the dirt! He loves to dig with a shovel he has.

I just had to schedule his appointment for a flu shot, and I am absolutely dreading going. He hasn't had any shots in a long time and now he's old enough to actually know what's going on. It's going to be so sad!

By next week, I'm really hoping to start jotting things down that Westen says so I can record them in here. :)