Busy Day

Today me and Paulina and the kids went to run some errands. We got mom's birthday present, I won't say in case she reads, and Nicole's birthday present. Nicole bought some shoes for Boo that didn't fit, so I exchanged them for Micah's birthday present. They didn't have any baby stuff there. It was busy, but it's nice to get things done. The kids were pretty good. Mya saw the golden arches so we had to eat there. Boo has been into screeching and screaming lately, for fun of course. I think he is experimenting with his voice. Sometimes it sounds mad, but it's just loudness. And he likes eating his toes, all ten at once if possible. Right now he is sitting in my lap sqealing and licking and sucking on my arm... probably not so clean, but oh well. My arm is like a slip n slide right now... yuck.

Vacation!

I'm so happy to be on vacation this week. I think Nathan will be off Wed, Thurs, and Fri with us, so that will be nice. He worked on the house, installing a new A/C vent all weekend. For those of you who don't live in SE TX, it's super hot, into the 100º mark most days. So me n Boo will spend most of our time indoors. We did go to a pool party Saturday. Boo liked swimming. He looks so cute in his swimsuit. There was a near-miss incident with a little girl who fell in the pool. Her mother just happened to look over and see the 2 year old girl in the bottom of the pool, no floaties, just laying there. She jumped in with her infant son in arms and grabbed up the girl who thankfully started crying and was fine. A scary reminder how dangerous pools are. There were no adults in the pool at the time. Everyone was getting ready to leave. There really should be a "lifeguard" assigned to watch the pool at all times. And I should brush up on my CPR, just in case I need it. God was watching out for her that day.

And I got to see Mya "feed" her baby doll at church.

I'm waiting for the City to call or come out today and fix a leaking main water supply that is flooding our yard. I will have to move the dogs for them to go into the yard. Big. Stinky. Yucky. Wet. Dogs.

Mya see Mya do

Mya is just at the right age where she watches and learns from everything we say and do. But she's also at the right age where she believes everything we say. She does ask "why?" a lot, but not really "how does that work?" So she has been seeing me BF Chesley from day one.

I was on the phone with Paulina yesterday, and she said, "You would not believe what she is doing!"
I hear, "Mya, what are you doing? Are you feeding your baby?"

She was "breastfeeding" her baby doll... lifting up her shirt and putting her baby under there.

I laughed. What do you say to her? She's not doing anything wrong, maybe a little unconventional for a three year old. I'm sure she's not the first little girl to do that, but it was really funny and priceless.

She has always loved her baby dolls, but since Chesley has come around, she really knows more about babies and what to do with them. She feeds them, puts them in their swings, car seats, chairs, lays them down, makes them go "night night." Funny how that mommy instinct comes out early in some of us.

Memories of MJ

I am sad to hear of Michael Jackson's death. Maybe he made some good and some bad choices in his life, but it was cut too short. I pray for peace for his children and family and friends. I can't imagine all my bad choices being made public. He broke strong race boundaries and made music history over and over again. I can remember dancing to Thriller and Beat it and other 80s favorites with my brother as little kids. His memory will live on.

So tired

I'm sure 100 of my posts are titled this way, but... I hope that last night was just a fluke and not an indication of a pattern. Boo did not sleep very well last night. I think it was because he was held all day the past two days. He would fall asleep in my arms, I put him down, he woke up, repeat, repeat, repeat till 11 pm, sleep one hour, repeat, sleep one hour, repeat, repeat, repeat. Maybe one two hour stretch in there. I'm really wanting to stay home tomorrow so I can get some rest. Boo will usually sleep on and off till 8 or 9 am, giving me a little more sleep. It's just so hard to go to work and try to function.


Boo is with Paulina today, so she will put him down for his naps, and hopefully he'll get back on track. She is feeling better. It was nice to see Mya this morning. My brother did tell Paulina how Mya almost drowned in the pool Sunday. I was 2 feet away and Mya fell in to the deep end. She was walking next to the edge. We were telling her not to, she slipped, fell, I almost had a heart attack. It was one of those slow motion moments. She started to sink. I got her and pulled her up. She must have held her breath. OMG. What if...? So many things could have gone wrong. There were 3 adults outside and we were all watching her constantly. She really needs to learn how to swim.

Awesome neighbors

My neighbors are so awesome! They kept Boo yesterday, and they have him again today. He is getting super spoiled over there, which I won't complain about. They said he didn't cry at all. It was very nice for me to just load up, drive across the street, unload, and go to work. Too much stuff to carry across the street. Of course I miss Paulina, and I don't think my neighbors would want to keep him every day, but it is nice to have a good back-up. Boo didn't sleep good last night. I think he got used to being held all day yesterday. Hopefully today they put him down at least a little bit and let him sleep without being held. But the most important thing is that he is well taken care of and loved.

We went out to eat last night! All together! Crazy, I know. Boo was very good. He has this new thing that he "talks" super loud. People probably thought he was crying, but no, my son is just loud. It sounds like he is complaining about something or just being very serious. I was trying to feed Boo breakfast, but he had too much to say. Oh well. He can just drink extra milk. I called Nathan while Boo was talking so he could hear. Funny.

I'm really looking forward to being off next week for vacation, or staycation as it happens to be. I just want some time with Boo, maybe do a few things around the house, maybe not. Nathan will be off Thursday and Friday for July 4 holiday.

Leaving Boo

Yesterday I actually felt ok about going to work Nathan's sister babysat and all was well. Paulina is feeling bad still, and I think it's too much for her to have the baby. Not her fault at all, and I know she would have kept him for me. I left him with our neighbors. They are retired and have grandkids. I trust them fully and know Boo will be fine and spoiled like usual. BUT... it was so hard. Just leaving him there when I would rather be with him. I wish... That's all I'll say for now.

Father's Day

We had a nice Father's Day spending time with family. We went to church, then had lunch with my parents, then we went to Nathan's sister's house and went swimming with his family. Mya tagged along with us and had a lot of fun swimming. Paulina was not feeling well yesterday. Nicole is babysitting today. We'll see what will happen tomorrow. Nicole will have to work tomorrow.

Nathan made some progress on the house, but it is so hot outside. It's dangerous to work for too long out there. It's been in the 90s every day, high humidity, yuck.

Speaking of being hot, something is going on with the AC at work. It's super hot in my office.

For some reason, BFing has been painful the last few days. I hope I'm not getting an infection. It hurts to nurse and to pump.

At home on a Saturday

We are at home today just playing and talking and hanging out. We are going to a friends 30th birthday party for a little while tonight. It's a pretty quiet weekend so far. For Father's Day we will go to church then go hang out with Nathan's family. Nathan has been working on the house this weekend where we have some damage from Hurricane Ike where a tree fell next to the house. We need to keep up with the house maintenance better (we meaning Nathan). This job loss scare has definitely taught us a few lessons. If he would have lost his job, it would have been difficult to pay for repairing the house in case we need to sell it. We have a lot of rotten siding and trim on the exterior plus the hurricane damage. So maybe he can fix these things. Then if we need to or want to sell the house we would be in a better position to do so. I waiver between wanting to move and wanting to stay. If we sell the house and move into a cheaper house, one day I would probably be able to stay home. But selling a house is a lot of work, invasion of privacy every day with strangers coming to see your house while you are at work and in the evenings and weekends at a moments notice. So it's not something to go into lightly. Plus taking care of a child... So I don't know. For now, just keeping up with the house better is a good idea whether we go or stay.

I'm definitely reminding myself we are fortunate and blessed to both have jobs. Babies cost lots of money!

Home Today

We are all home together today. Sorry no post yesterday. Work was busy then I watched Mya and Boo for a little while for Paulina to take Omar to the dr. He has an infected toenail and has to have it taken care of. Ouch. Mya was attempting to play CandyLand. Well... kind of hard for a 3 year old. But it's good to start seeing games and soon she will be able to play. I tried to play with her, but the people started going all over the board and she doesn't know her colors. It was funny. Hopefully we will have a quiet weekend.

Good News

It looks like Nathan will not lose his job right now. His company is doing some lay-offs. He was worried, as was everyone. After hearing of some people getting laid off yesterday morning, his boss came and talked to him and told him they want him to stay. We are very relieved. One of Nathan's close friends will be laid off though. They asked him to stay through Nov. 30 and then he will get 12 weeks pay if he hasn't already left for another job. So hopefully those that lose their jobs will be helped by this offer.

Boo was cranky last night. We had some fun time, but he just fights sleep so hard. It just makes me feel even worse for having to work. If I stayed home, I would get more fun time. It's hard when two out of the four hours I get are crying.

Here we are again

We find ourselves with another Monday. Same feelings of sadness having to leave Boo. We did have a good weekend. I got in trouble Friday for not working. I didn't ask permission... Didn't feel the need to. If I'm ever going to work Fridays, our weekends are going to have to slow down. I can't handle working 5 days then being gone all weekend. Things should slow down for us for a little while.

We watched The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button yesterday and I really liked it. I love fairy tale like movies. There was a lot of sadness in the movie, and the ending was not so happily ever after, but it was very good.

Baby Dedication

Today we are having baby dedication at church. We believe that it is mostly for the parents, to affirm to the church and to God that we will raise our child to know Jesus and do our best to be good examples. No baptism, no water, no formal ceremoney, just a way to show off our baby and affirm our beliefs. The church also takes a vow to encourage and teach the child. So I'm excited about this. Nathan's parents were supposed to go to a family reunion, but they cancelled to come to this. I feel a little bad. We only got one week notice for this dedication. My parents are on opposite schedules. Mom is off, dad is working. Off to eat and get ready.

Ready for the weekend

Well that's the story of my life, survive through the work week and live for the weekends. I am not going to work on Fridays for a while. I really want the most time possible with Boo. I start getting fidgety and antsy at the end of the day. It will help today knowing I will be off for three days. Will I always feel like this? What about when he goes to school? Am I crazy? I get nervous when people invite us to go somewhere or do something because I don't want to have to go anywhere without him. Sounds crazy. I don't want to get a babysitter and leave Boo. I don't want a break. It's very hard for me to leave him in the church nursery for an hour. I really miss him. Before I went back to work we had our parents come babysit for us to go to dinner a couple of times. It was very nice to go out with Nathan and concentrate on our relationship. But I just can't do it right now. I would be a nervous wreck. Boo has been going to bed early lately, which gives us some time to hang out and talk. He woke up twice last night, so not a great night for sleeping. But hopefully tomorrow we will sleep a little late. Saturday is Mya's birthday. She is very excited. I was singing, "Happy Birthday to MEEEE" and making her mad and laugh. She says, "NO ME!" Then after I sing it a few more times she says, "Ok, it's your birthday." LOL

5 months

Yesterday was Boo's 5 month birthday. Time goes by so fast. He is eating fruits, veggies, and cereal. He is still nursing and drinking pumped breastmilk while I work. He is happy and sweet and loves attention. He loves family gatherings and being held by different people. He loves his aunt Paulina. He really loves his cousin Mya. He enjoys watching her play, eating her toys, talking with her in their own special language. He loves mommy and daddy. He is so happy when he sees his daddy in the evenings. They have a special bond. Nathan buzzed all his hair off and Boo loves to rub Nathan's head. He laughs and cackles. Boo has started scooting around on the bed. He puts his nose in the bed and picks up his butt and scoots around. It's super cute. He likes crackley noises, like bags of chips. He likes to play and be entertained. He does NOT like to nap or lay down. He does NOT like if you take something away from him that he was enjoying. He does NOT like to have his diaper changed when he is very hungry. He does NOT like to take a bath by himself.

Just thought I would share with you about Boo. He is getting a sweet little personality already. With a little attitude on the side.

Pics

Supper is serious business for this little boy. You may notice that there is food on his feet. I just let him make a big mess and clean it up in the end.

This is Daddy time hanging out listening to music on the computer... and chewing your toes. This is after eating, so there is probably some leftover food in there.

Daddy love.

Busy Weekend

I probably use that title a lot, but our weekends have been really busy lately... We had a birthday party for Nathan's grandmother and my grandfather all together on Saturday at our house. It was really fun. They were like two little kids sitting there eating birthday cake big smiles on their faces. They are both 78 years old. They have done so much for us. They deserve our appreciation. Yesterday was church, then a baby shower for Charmaine. She is so cute! Her baby is due in 5 weeks. She is having a little girl.

This weekend is Mya's bday. Then Sunday is baby dedication at church and probably a family lunch after that. See why I need Fridays off?

I promise I will put up some pics soon. I have some cute ones. I just never get on the computer when I'm home. I'm like Mrs. Super Multi-tasker at home. Feed a baby, wash clothes, cook dinner, sweep the floor, etc. Busy busy bee!

Little boy is doing so much more now. He plays with toys, stands up (for a minute with help), sits up with help, smiles, laughs sometimes for no real reason, "talks", slaps, kicks, all that fun stuff!

Perceptions

It's funny how when times change, perceptions change. I know some people who have good incomes and live very simple lives. I could never understand why they didn't live in a fancy house and drive fancy cars. Don't they "deserve" nice things for working so hard? I thought, you can't take your money with you, why not spend it? Hmmm... Now with job loss being on the table, I understand those people.

I used to think it was perfectly acceptable for people to let babies cry themselves to sleep. I even laughed at family members who fed their baby at every wimper. I thought, it's good for kids to cry. It makes their lungs strong. They need to learn that they can't have their way. People always ask how the baby is doing. I say he's doing well and getting big. Then they ask how is he sleeping. Not so great I say. They judge me for not letting him cry. They laugh and say I must not be tired enough. I assure you. I am tired. Hmmm... Now that I have a child, I can't bear to hear him cry. It breaks my heart into a million pieces.

Last night was interesting. I came home, nursed Boo, we rested for a little while. When Nathan came home, I had him feed Boo, which was funny. Nathan can't hardly stand the mess that is made when Boo eats. Then Boo got sleepy and took a nap. We ate dinner and watched tv. Then the lights went out. It rained a lot here yesterday afternoon. Sometimes the transformers get water in them and them blow up. It was super loud. Then we talked and hung out in the almost dark. I took a shower in the almost dark. Then Boo woke up and I gave him a bath. He seemed ok, but after 1 minute in the tub, he started screaming. I quickly finished his bath. He kept screaming through getting dressed. I was singing to him while he cried. Then he immediately fell asleep at 8:00 pm. Up at 12, 2, and 5 am. Nathan thinks he shouldn't go to sleep so early. There is nothing I can do about it. Boo was crying and just passed out.

Tired

Nothing new going on here. Boo is still waking up all night. I'm still tired. I feel sort of like a zombie. I just don't think we should do any sleep training still. And I really don't want to try formula at night or switch up the breastfeeding.

Boo really enjoyed his supper last night! He had prunes and bananas and oatmeal. He was really opening up his mouth and wanting more. He has to get down to just the diaper to eat. He puts his hands in his mouth and then grabs his toes. So it's a big mess, but it's fun. Then he got sleepy and went to sleep before I could give him a bath. Then he woke up at 9:00 to eat, and I wiped him down with a warm wash cloth. He was too sleepy to take a bath.

Nice evening, rough night

We had a fun evening yesterday. Boo was happy. He ate prunes and peaches and made a giant mess. We snuggled and nursed and played and talked. It was nice to be home and hang out. Nathan even stayed in the house with us

Boo went to sleep around 8:00 for a little while. Then he was up and back down at 9:00. But he woke up quite a few times in the night. I'm pretty tired today.

Today is Papaw's birthday! Happy 78!

Trying to be happy

I'm really trying to be happy and not get depressed. I know I say it a lot, but I really don't like being away from my son.

So I'm going to list some positive things about my situation to bring them to light instead of being negative.
1. I'm so fortunate to have a wonderful healthy child. I really enjoy the time we have together.
2. I only work about 25 hours a week.
3. My hours are flexible. I just have to get my work done. I don't have to worry about being here at a certain time on most days.
4. Nathan and I are both off on weekends to spend time together.
5. We have lots of family and friends to support us.
6. We live in a nice home and have everything we need.

Ok I feel a little better now.