Saturday, April 30, 2011

chores

I've been trying to keep up with my daily FLYing from flylady.com. I also found a free computer program that makes to-do list and calendars for the whole family and can send to mobile phones. It's called cozi.com. I set up widgets on both mine and Jon's phones. I tried to keep chore distribution even. E.g. he swishes the toilet/I swipe the bathroom sink; he empties the dishwasher while I load on one day, then vice-versa.

We've been slowly and in babysteps getting nagging everyday chores done as well as overwhelming heavy/deep cleaning done (today we're moving all the furniture away from the walls in the living room so we can sweep and mop). I've done a lot of laundry - probably did 15 loads last week just so we could see the floor of our laundry room and bedroom. And while I've still done the majority of the cleaning, I can't be too begrudging since Jon spent 2 days attempting to unclog our kitchen sink (finally had to have Thrifty Rooter come in after even the landlord spent an entire morning with his yokel crew and couldn't unclog it).

Slowly but surely I feel like we could have people over more often without a major panic cleaning. Just having the bookcase cleaned and organized (my chore from last night) made the living room look 10x better today. It's tiring but it's worth it. Ahhhhh.
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Easter

While I sit here and nurse, I thought I'd finally post on Easter (with pictures!). I'm also thinking about it because Liam was whining (it's been a whiny morning) "Mannam and Gamma," and I got some great pictures of Liam with my grandmother
Colin 4 weeks old.

To start off, with Easter being so late this year, everybody except my mom thought Easter was the previous week (apr. 17). So Jon and I were planning to do a combo Easter/Jon's 36th birthday. Once we got that confusion over with, we decided to postpone the birthday celebration to actual Easter. And I decided we should host since I wanted to get the house cleaned up a little. The birthday was really important because Liam's been wanting to have a birthday party since Colin was born (probably because of the balloon that's still floating on our living room ceiling).

A couple of days before Easter, my mom called to say that my granny was in the hospital again. She had had heart attack symptoms but luckily it was not the case; she was extremely anemic though. Mom didn't know that she'd be feeling up for celebrating even if she got out of the hospital. So we canceled and then stopped housekeeping. Lol.
Liam's 2 Easter baskets.Colin's 1st teeny tiny Easter basket.

Granny got discharged on Friday night and really wanted Easter. So plans were back on and then we had to hustle to get cleaning done before 3pm.
The boys taking a nap during cleaning.

We had corned beef, roasted potatoes and asparagus, and cabbage. It was delicious. I put some lovely cala lilies from Jon's mom's plant on the table.

We had devils food cupcake with peanut butter cup surprise inside and Liam helped Jon blow out his candles (Jon is now a whole box of candles old - 3 dozen).

Liam checking on the spoils of his egg hunt. Note the color sorting. He also counted them in Spanish (until he got to cinco, then they were all cinco).
We did an egg hunt indoors because our yard is too unkempt and too noisy being on the busy corner we live on.
We tried to watch Tangled since Mom and Granny hadn't seen it, but Liam was getting too fussy and loud (I'll have to let them borrow it).
The best surprise from the Easter bunny was a "magic wand," what Liam calls his "big, giant egg!" and all the candies.
Liam flinging basket grass around to look for more "jumping" beans.

Friday, April 29, 2011

test post

This is a test of an app allowing me to update my blog via my phone.
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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Colin 1 month

Our little man is now 1 month old! Hooray.

We weighed him on the home scale and he was over 10 lbs (which means he's grown about a pound and a half since his 2 week appointment at the pediatrician). He's just getting out of his NB sized clothes, which meant I had to return an Easter outfit I got him because of the whole mis-calculating when Easter was thing and had to get a 3m/o size.

The breast feeding thing has been totally worked out. I don't think I make much milk, but obviously he's eating well. He gets about 4oz of formula a day, in the evenings when I'm running a little low. I have not had mastitis and only a little trouble with engorgement if he decides to skip a feeding at night (but I'm grateful for the extra uninterrupted sleep when he does skip). He's had tons of trouble with not pooping though. We're lucky if we get 1-2 actual messy poops in a day; most days are just shi-farts. He's currently very constipated and bloated with gas. He's been farting like a little beany-Brussels sprout. His farts stink. He's definitely bloated. (Yes, I love you my smelly guy)
His eyes are definitely getting lighter and bluer every day. He looks more and more like Liam did at that age, every day. We're starting tummy-time now. I make him do about a minute for every week old he is; his neck is already so strong.

The cats are very cool with hanging out with him. Although, I'm sure Poppy is trying to show her dominance and annoy the hell out of me. She sleeps in his crib whether or not he's in it and she insists on being right next to him when I'm nursing at night.

The best . . . we're starting to get smiles and coos. They're still a little random and not really intentional. But I'll take 'em. :)

nosies

The cutest thing just happened. We live on a very public street corner. In fact, we're the only house on the corner. Across from us on the one street is the primary school. On another is the WIC office (kitty-corner was an abandoned warehouse until about a month ago when UPS moved some trucks in). There is also no sidewalk on one side, so people walk through the yard all the time. Liam loves to watch the cars and trucks go by and the occasional field trip of 1st graders walking in their little hand-holding duck lines. He sometimes gets the kids to wave back.

I had the window open and the curtains drawn back and was just sitting down in the recliner by said window putting Colin on the boob. I hear the distinct sounds of a family walking through our front lawn and then I hear "Gato! Gato!" and then the sounds of a parent telling her little girl to come back in Spanish. Poppy was in the window and I pull the curtain aside a little and see a little girl (maybe 3) standing on opur front porch looking at the cat. She was so intent on Poppy that she didn't see me looking at her. She's still talking to Poppy in Spanish. Then Liam noticed me looking out the window and went to the plaid chair, pulled the curtain back to look out, and said "hello baby" to the little girl. That startled her and she squealed (like an "I've been caught" scream) and ran back to join her mom, dad, brother, and baby who were all standing on the corner.

Ahh, gotta love the nosy neighbors.

Monday, April 25, 2011

laundry and chores

Today I got to sleep in! Until 10! It was blissful. I was so tired after yesterday's celebrations that I could barely feed poor Colin when he woke up at 1:30. Just couldn't keep my eyes open. And when it was time to feed him at 4:30, I just brought him into bed and breast fed while sleeping (and protecting his head from cat claws).

Took a look at flylady.com again for the first time in probably a year. Decided I needed to get some general chores done because Jon and I got the house so beautifully picked up for Easter. So I got dressed, took care of personal grooming, swiped and swished the bathroom, started a couple loads of laundry (my neighbor/coworker was kind enough to gift us with heaps of clothes for the boys while she was at the thrift store on Saturday).

While folding the laundry, I had a sad moment. I was sorting between Liam's and Colin's clothes and realizing that they are growing so fast. Our baby is already getting too big for his NB sized clothes and I'm having to pull a lot of things out of Liam's drawers too. By best estimate, Liam is 39" tall already (I have a meter stick that he found the other day and was walking around banging it like Gandalf's staff).

And I couldn't believe it...Liam took a nap. Well I don't know if he slept, honestly, but he stayed in his room, quiet, for a little over an hour. This allowed Jon and me to do a bit more housekeeping. He tackled the clogged kitchen sink and I swept up the Easter basket grass that was strewn hopelessly across the living room, dining room, and trying to creep into the bedrooms. Poor Poppy, she'll be so disappointed.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

halfway through leave

Yesterday I got a delightful surprise . . . lunch with my coworkers. Well, the lunch idea wasn't so much of a surprise because Katherine and I were planning on it. She gets her hair and nails done here in Colusa and had a nail appt so we were planning on lunch. But then we decided to ask two more work friends along, Emily (6th grade) and Cynthia (SpEd). Cynthia lives down the street and was the wonderful coworker who cleaned my house/babysat Liam so Jon and I could go out for our anniversary. Emily is my animal-lover-crazy friend who volunteers huge amounts of her time to the Yolo County SPCA (in addition to teaching the animals of the 6th grade). While we were there, another teacher who teaches 5th/6th combo at our small school, Kelli, and her family came in (she has a daughter a year older than Liam and worked at JJH the first year I was there).

We tried a little diner here in town that everyone's been raving about, Tommy's. I had a tri-tip sandwich that was fan-freakin'-tastic. We all had great conversation. Katherine is keeping the AVID program going at work and we actually have enough upcoming 7th graders to go back to teaching 2 sections of AVID next year; alas due to the giant size of the current 7th grade (next year's 8th grade), we don't have enough teachers to allow bringing back that 2nd section. Bummer.

I'm apparently going to be teaching a section of 8th grade US History next year. The principal announced this at a staff meeting the first week I was gone, but he and I had only had one discussion of it "as a possibility." This is basically because the 8th grade history teacher is NOT retiring this year (although I knew he wouldn't) and still wants to teach his "reading comprehension" intervention that he's teaching this year (although, I'm actually more qualified to teach an English intervention than he since I have a credential in English since last March). Katherine and Cynthia were a little aghast when the principal announced this but I am looking at it as a positive. IF I stay at this school, I see it as a challenge to really show the administration that the 8th grade teacher is totally out of touch and a poor teacher. He's boring, lectures all the time, derides the kids on their comprehension of US history, and frankly has pissed me off since he made a negative comment about my curriculum to the students (TO THE STUDENTS - who, precious cherubs they are, promptly reported back to me). So, IF I stay, I guess I'll not only be putting on another medieval festival, but I'll also be needing to find ways to show up the lazy/lousy teacher in my department.

That being said, my leave is now a little more than half over. I'll be honest, I'm a little bored. But that's because I haven't really made the decision to whether or not I'm going back for the remainder of the year. My leave officially ends on the 6th of May and basically has me going back for 18 school days (the last week of school has a holiday and ends on Thursday). I know I won't be the best teacher for that last month because I'll be very very tired doing the working-mom thing. I also don't want to jeopardize the work Colin and I are doing on breast feeding (something I felt happened when I returned to work with Liam). But I can't really find an angle to get my doctor or my psychiatrist to give me the rest of the year off with medical leave. That would allow me to continue to draw on my disability and get "paid" during leave. Legally, according to my contract and FMLA, I can take 5 months off from my job, but only with differential pay which means I have to pay the sub out of my check and still pay for health insurance and taxes on my whole check (even though I'm not getting all that money). I think if I knew I was not going back (since I'm still undecided), I would be starting some projects with Liam and Jon in addition to my bonding time with Colin. But I don't really want to start anything too much now since I don't know if Jon will keep up with it if I do go back to work. Another problem is we still haven't put Yam in daycare yet, although we've found a school I think I like and he's certainly ready to go, even for partial days/weeks.

And then there's the overall, shadowing question (made all the more real when Cynthia confided in me that she really may not be returning next year - entirely not her choice and a stupid mistake on our principal's decision making part) . . . what else am I going to do because I really really really don't want to work in Arbuckle anymore?

Sunday, April 17, 2011

I miss my shirt

Baby Colin has been suffering from quite a bit of constipation this last week. Granted, he's only 3 weeks old and he's still trying to build his digestive system. Unfortunately this no-poop problem started after we went to visit the pediatrician, so we didn't really have a need on Monday to ask about it. We've kind of thought that the formula might be the culprit, but each time, after about a day, he's managed to poop. And Colin's not really getting that much formula anyway. Only a few ounces in the evening or at night when my milk is running low.

Well, yesterday, my mom came up and to see the boys and we took the opportunity to go major grocery shopping. We were gone about 4 hours and Colin started off with a bottle of formula a little before we left. He was wide-awake for most of the day according to my mom. And it was obvious his wakefulness was caused by tummy trouble. He's so gassy. He hadn't pooped very much at all (maybe a little in the morning). Of course, he'd had formula the whole time we were gone. We did finally get him to sleep.

I decided today that Colin would only be getting the boob for meals today. And to turn back to the title of this post . . . I miss my shirt. He is not eating at regular intervals. He still hasn't had a poop today and it's obvious his belly is so ouchy. He's pretty much only able to nurse for about 10 minutes, then he falls asleep. It's a lot like snacking. He's been on the boob ALL DAY LONG and I pretty much haven't had any time to replenish my supply. If I put him down for a moment, he starts grunting and whining. If I lift him to burp him, he starts rooting. I'll let him fall asleep in my arms just so he can sleep, but boy oh boy, do I miss wearing a shirt. Hopefully today will help us figure out if the problem really if the formula.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Announcing Colin Alexander!

Finally!!! Got a chance to get onto the blog and finally type up the birth story of our newest, precious little boy.

I decided that Thursday, March 24th was pretty much my last day at school. I was so tired. We had just finished a unit on the Renaissance and I had taken them through a week of drawing single-point perspective drawings. My next doctor's appt was on Friday anyway and I wasn't going to be able to take a partial day since my appointment was in the middle of the day. I called my long term sub, told her to plan on coming in on Monday and told the secretary I was going to keep my keys for the weekend so I could come in and get some things taken care of and some housekeeping done. I went home. After dinner and putting Liam to bed, we popped the cork on another bottle of champagne. Awww. Jon discusses with me what kind of induction I'd be willing to have if it comes to that.

Friday, Jon and I both had showers (never go to the Lady Doc without a shower; that's just rude!). We made a list of all the things that should just get packed into the car for our stay in the hospital and for Liam's stay with Nana and Granny. There was a "last minute list" too. I decided to take the Durango down and told him I'd go shopping while I was down there for some odds and ends like cheap magazines and diapers for Yam.

I get to the doc's office and my BP is beautiful 112/79. My weight 208.5 (with clothes on). Doc checks my cervix and says 4cms!!! The heartbeat was a lot stronger than the last visit. She says she wants me to get an induction since we live far away. "How about tomorrow morning? I'm the OB at L&D tomorrow." Wow, okay...ummm...(secretly it would be nice for her to deliver me since she's been my doctor for 2 decades now) but I don't want another pitocin induction. Well, it turns out that L&D had too much scheduled for Saturday morning, but they want me to come in at 8pm that night!!! Okay. I call Jon and my mom to tell them that tonight is the night. Then I did that shopping I was going to do. Liam and Jon arrive around 4pm. We had Chinese food for dinner (just like the night Liam was induced). We wish them good luck with our little Yamster and Jon has me drive to the hospital because he needs to call family and let them know we're on our way.

Checked in at 8. I ask for the midwife side. Got an awesome sassy black momma for my first nurse (with 6 kids of her own). They broke my bag at 9. It took awhile for them to get a good baseline on baby's heartbeat - about an hour. I wasn't having any painful contractions. But then they let me get up and we took a couple laps around the delivery floor and I start having actual contractions; next I sat on the yoga ball for an hour or leaned over it during my contractions. Pain level 3-4. Back in bed for monitoring but baby's shifted so I have to get on my side; this causes the contraction monitor to not pick up anything, but they were a comin'. Within 20 minutes I was spiking pain levels to 7-8 and I could feel those contractions were working on dilating and spreading. Got my epidural at 1am and of course it DIDN'T WORK ON THE RIGHT SIDE just like last time. Ugh. And then they gave me the pit. The nurse anesthetist knew my dad, she used to work with him at Morse Avenue.

After the epidural, they decided to check my progress. "You're at 9cm, and fully stretchy in your cervix, but baby's still at -1 so we're gonna have you labor down. Try to sleep." We turned out the lights, Jon unfolded the reclining bench, and we tried to sleep (of course, they checked me every 30 minutes). Not too much time goes by and then the nurse comes in to check my progress. By the way, the epidural has fully kicked in and I felt like a weeble people from the hips down. "Let's check to see what station you're at." She lifts the blankets and . . . "oh my, we're having a baby."

The midwife slammed her cuppa joe, the nurses barely had enough time to get the table set up and get my legs in the stirrups. I had one spot in my abdomen that I could feel my contractions. I absolutely didn't push at all!!! He came out with the contractions. The midwife kept thanking me for such an easy delivery after the week she'd had even though he did pee on her (I did get a 2nd degree tear because he came out with one hand up at his shoulder). They scrubbed him off and put him on my chest and he crawled right up to the breast! He nursed perfectly for 30 minutes on each side. The nurses did his vaccinations and his heel stick and eye goop while he nursed; he never cried, just winced and went right on nursing. The nurse said she'd never had a baby do the breast crawl or never cry in the 15 years she's been in L&D. Let me just say that compared to Liam's birth, this was so much more of what I wanted, stress free, a little productive pain, medication, easy delivery (I didn't even sweat).

After over an hour, they took him for his vitals and he pooped just before his first bath. Smart guy. Born 1 day early on March 26th 2011 @ 4:29am, weighing in at 7lbs 11oz, stretching 20.5" long, and a head circ. of 14",
here he is . . . Colin Alexander Rogers!!!