I promise

to have a real post soon. To put up pictures of Daven's first birthday and his parties and all of that. I suck. I know. I'm trying to get with it, Shelbs!

Daven slept through the night last night! Do a dance! Say a cheer! Make a banner!

In other good news, I lost 5 pounds last week! We are weighing in at school every Friday. I've been using the scale in the nurse's office since we don't have one here at home. When I stepped onto the scale Friday I couldn't believe it! I hope that I can keep this up. We made dinner at home all week and have been trying to work out.


Here is bubby with no diaper because he got away from me while I was changing him. I think he likes being free.









Bubby had his bath in the sink last night because our tub has decided to stop draining. I was worried it would be a disaster, but it turned out just fine. It was easier on my back, too!

Daven has been waving like crazy and can now give high fives (when he wants to anyway). And of course his kisses are great!

We still haven't decided what to do with Oreo and Coheed. I hate to even think about getting rid of them.

Snow day!

This is what it looked like a bit ago, and it's still snowing.




As you can see, Daven has taken over the living room. It's ok though - he can have it. We barricade him in there. The least we can do is let him have all his toys! So many of them have annoying songs, too, but I can tolerate it because I want him to grow up having a love for music.

After two days of working out, I didn't get to it yesterday. As I should have figured, it's harder to find time to do it during the week. That with the fact that I've blown my nose so many times it's red and raw, I didn't get to it. Even though I still feel icky today, I'm hoping to get something in today.

So what's in a snow day? Daven and I ate some apple cinnamon muffins. He played on the floor and the White Collar marathon has been on all morning. He's finally napping on me. Not sure what we'll get into the rest of the day.

I've got to get-ta-gettin' on Daven's first b-day plans. We have decided to have two smaller parties instead of one giant one. We will celebrate with A's family on Friday and with my side on Saturday. Then on Sunday, on the actual day, we will spend as a small family. Other than that, the details haven't been nailed down yet.

At least it's a start

Yesterday I worked out with Dance Central for the xbox kinect. The workout mode keeps track of how long you danced and estimates your calories burned. I danced for a half hour, and it wore me out.

This morning A's mom made breakfast because his sister has to go back to school today. After breakfast I walked on their treadmill for 30 min. I took it pretty slow and only did 1.41 miles. But it's still something.

A bought me a workout game for the kinect so I'm going to try it out later today hopefully. I'm hurting for sure, which is a good thing. Daven deserves a healthier mommy.

Lets hope I can keep it up. ::crosses fingers::

Happy Saturday!

This is what we did bright and early this morning. Usually bath time is reserved for the evenings, but bubby woke up this morning with one loaded/exploded diaper. So into the tub he went. He enjoyed it though, and I got to play with his soapy hair.

We've had a good start to our Saturday, despite the absolutely disgusting diaper. After bubby had his bath, we took showers and went out in the snow to iHop. I was craving some delicious breakfast. Plus, we hadn't been there since Daven had really started to self feed so I was anxious to see how he would like our food.

He ate some of my omelet and pancakes and I think A even gave him a tiny piece of bacon. He loved it! So cute. I'm proud of our little self-feeder!

Then we stopped by Target to get a few things and Daven loved riding around in the cart. Now he's taking a nap on the couch while I sit next to him. I think he's about to wake up though, because his legs keep moving.

I've downloaded some free books to my nook and I have a list of other books that I want. Not sure what I want to use my giftcard on yet. But I really want to get to reading!

I decided to do our weight loss program at school. Initial weigh-in was yesterday. And I will tell you - I currently weigh 253 pounds. Now I'm going to try to eat healthier and we are going to make sure to add a lot more veggies in with our dinners, but I know that I am not going to be able to give up tasty cold turkey. So I'm hoping to be able to exercise. I want to do our Dance Central game on workout mode, and I'm hoping that we can get Zumba Dance soon. Also, I want to start using the treadmill at in IL's house. Anything that I can do to better my health and make me a healthier mommy.

Oh, and here is our bub this morning, when I had to get A out of bed to come help me with the diaper disaster. Daven decided that we was going to do a Captain Morgan pose and wave for the picture. Classic.

I just realized that I haven't taken a picture of bubby all week long. I almost had a panic attack. Why? Not really sure. I guess maybe that I'm going to miss something? He's changing every day and I want as many pictures as possible to look back on. I need to calm down.

This week has been a long one. Adjusting to going back to work and trying to get Daven back on schedule has been rough. Christmas break definitely spoiled me. The kids at school are having to make similar adjustments and have been w-i-l-d.

I'm having a hard time thinking straight at the moment because it's almost 7 pm and we haven't eaten dinner yet. I am so hungry! I swear earlier today I had in my head all kinds of things I wanted to write about, but it has all escaped me.

They are starting a weight loss thing at school and the initial weigh-in is tomorrow. I want to do it, but I have no idea how well I'll do. I have no will power and no energy. But I'm trying to be positive.

The boy calls. It's about that time that he wants to cat nap before staying up late. yeah, we're trying to fix that.

Jumping back to bubby's first Christmas

(Sorry I didn't have the patience to organize the pictures in chronological order of the day.)

Best. Christmas. Ever.

I loved every minute of it. And so did Daven. We started off the morning at 6:30 am when Daven woke up. We went right downstairs to see what Santa had brought. A walking/riding dino, a learning table, a drum filled with instruments, and more, and more. He spent time with each toy, excited with all his new toys.

Then we were off to A's parent's for breakfast and gifts. His favorite there was his ball. Although he wasn't too happy that he was not allowed to play with the catnit kitty presents.

Then to my parents for lunch and gifts. As you can see from the pictures above, the Mickey airplane that my mom got Daven was a huge hit. He also loves the singing, talking tool workbench that my sister got him.

Just when you think the day should be over, off we went to my grandpa's for dinner. We were all exhausted, but I was really glad that I got to spend some time with my aunt and my grandpa. And Daven was a trooper.

It was incredibly bittersweet on the short drive home, having had an awesome day, but sad that not only was Christmas over, but bubby's one and only first Christmas was now behind us.

About an hour after Daven went to bed, he woke up crying hard. Instant cold. Couldn't breathe through his nose. Poor thing. He slept in bed with us, which was fine with me, of course. It ended up being a rough night. I think we overdid it!

Daven has been playing with his new toys nonstop. Of course he still insists on getting out all of his "old" toys too. I know our living room floor is somewhere!

I cannot believe that the only first holiday that we have left (well besides MLK Jr. day, and they don't make special bibs for that!) is his first birthday. Someone pinch me because this past year has been a dream.

First book on the wish list - Show me How

I want to thank my internet friend at RockyMountainMama for bringing this book to my attention. Part of the anxieties of becoming a parent stem from worrying if you're doing enough, interacting in the right way, doing what's best for your wee one. (Or at least that's how it is for me) And as I said in my previous post, one of my resolutions to start the new year is to find time to read more.

Show me How is written by Vivian Kirkfield and she explores ways to positively engage your child. Not only would this be a helpful tool in my journey as a mommy, but it should also give some good ideas for the classroom. Yes, it is true that I currently do not have my own classroom, but I do work with special needs preschoolers that need all the attention they can get!

I'm crossing my fingers that I win the giveaway and score this promising book!

New Year's Resolutions

In no particular order

1. Be a more consistent blogger.

It's not that I have a ton of internet readers sitting in the edge of their seats waiting for my next entry. That is definitely not the case. The whole reason I started this blog was to help me keep track of trying to conceive, being pregnant, and documenting everything Daven. There are so many notable things that have happened that probably won't be remembered because I haven't been blogging.

2. Find time to read again.

I have my wonderful nook, but since I only had that for a month before Daven's triumphant arrival, I haven't gotten to use it as much as I want. Or hardly at all. I want to read fiction (my Sookie Stackhouse collection has been neglected) and hopefully I can find a few good reads to help me become motivated to be a teacher again.

3. Keep a list of my books read and what I thought about them.

I'd just like to keep track of what I've read and try to make that list as big as possible.

4. Let go

I'm finally back on Zoloft, although it's been for less than a month. I'm not depressed by any means; it's my overwhelming anxiety with Daven - am I doing things right? How can I stand to be away from him? What can I do better?

I feel like I've made strides already - bubby has been sleeping in his crib for a while now. There are still rough nights where he wants us, or when he's sick like earlier this week and we need to keep him elevated. But considering a couple months back when just the very thought of having Daven sleep a room away made my heart race and bring tears to my eyes, things are getting better.

I've also let my mil watch Daven overnight. New Year's Eve. Granted, I had to get drunk to help deal with the separation anxiety, but baby steps. We had friends over and had a good time. And bubby loved spending time with his grandma and grandpa. But my mom was totally jealous, so I'm going to have to give him up for the night again soon.

5. Learn to cook more recipes and eat at home more.

I've gotten to the point where I can make a handful of dinners and they actually taste good. But who wants tacos or chili every single week? I wish I enjoyed cooking more. So I'm going to try. Especially now that bubby is eating more and more table food, we need to eat at home more. I don't want him growing up having the stereotypical mom who's food tastes like pet food.

6. The typical

Eat healthier, exercise, lose weight. Boring. Difficult.

7. Be more organized.

Our house isn't dirty, but it's often a mess. There's always laundry about, whether it's dirty or it's cleaned and needs to be put away. One giant project that I want to accomplish is to organize the basement. Go though A's boxes, holiday boxes, Daven's clothes and label everything. I have a ton of stuff at my parents taking up space that needs to be brought over here. But I don't want the basement to be a disaster. I want to be able to access and find everything easily. Giant task.

8. Redo the front porch.

I said I was going to do this last summer. And it'll have to wait until this next summer. But I want to be able to sit out there, for Daven to be able to play out there, for it to not be an eyesore.

So, what do you think, few readers? Any suggestions?

It's been a long time

Yes, mommy-hood has me disorganized, frazzled, and distant from my computer. At least working mommy-hood has. There just aren't enough hours in the day. But two holidays have gone by since I last updated and that is just unacceptable!

Daven is a few days shy of 10 months now and man is he a big boy! For about the past month he has been army crawling around, and he can get around fast! Now he is crawling on his hands and knees (unless he's tired or lazy). AND he can pull himself up to stand! He always has this proud look on his face after he does it. Either that or he gets frustrated when he can't right away and starts crying.

I have had Daven sleeping in his crib for I'd say at least a month now. I thought I was going to die at first, but we got a video monitor so that I can look up and check on him any time during the night. He's still nowhere near sleeping through the night, but most nights it's getting better.

It was really odd to me that we had to lower the crib so soon after he started sleeping in it. But of course that was all me. If he had been sleeping in it all along...at least I have come this far.

Daven has 7 teeth now and when he bites, it hurts! He's eating some table food in very small quantities. It makes me so nervous because he chokes so easily when he's eating anything that requires chewing. I'm still making food for him, but his favorite is the Gerber yogurt.

Just within the past couple of days he's started saying "dada" a lot. And he growls like a dino all of the time. Then he smiles. Then he growls some more. Last night we were out to eat and there was a little girl in a high chair at the table next to us. He growled at her. What a flirt!

Now thinking back...

Towards the beginning of October we went to the Louisville Zoo for their Halloween. Daven wore his costume and we all had a great time. I'm really glad we did, because on Halloween itself, there was family overload and Daven just ended up being grumpy and tired. He was our cute little Rex from Toy Story!






Also in October we went to New Albany's Harvest Homecoming where Daven tried his first snow cone and breading off of a corn dog.

Daven really liked the corn dog breading.

We went to Hubers to go pumpkin picking. Daven loved the tractor ride to and from the bumbie patch and he tried to eat the pumpkins.




Every day in between I have been racing from work so that I can spend as much time with Daven as possible before he goes to bed at night. Since A has been going to school 2 days a week, it's been rough. On Mondays and Wednesdays I don't see him until after 9 at night. I have been going to bed when Daven does for the most part. Pure exhaustion.

Thanksgiving was good. We went to my parents for lunch and then to A's parents for dinner. Lots of good food. Really not too much to say about that! Well, besides the fact that he had a major blow-out at my parents which involved me gagging and Daven getting bath #2 of the day!







I have been going a bit overboard in preparation of Daven's first Christmas and then his first birthday the next month. We've got to try to start planning for his first birthday party, which I'm sure is going to end up being massive.

Well I think that's about all the updating I can do for now. I'm hoping to get to this at least once a week. ::crosses fingers::

I'm still here!

I could kick myself in the tush for not forcing myself to write on here every day and document what's going on in our lives and in Daven's development. Each day goes like this: work, Daven, sleep. Sometimes I get to spend time with A as well. But he has class two nights a week so that has been an adjustment.

I have been sick all week with some crap virus. There goes all my sick days! I am still coughing uncontrollably which sucks. At least I don't feel like death anymore.

Unfortunately, Daven got sick. Thankfully I don't think it was what I had, because he never ran a fever. But he's been stuffy and sneezing out snot for a few days now. We've had to prop him up when he sleeps to help with the drainage. Poor guy.

Yesterday was his 8 month birthday! Can I just say holy shit! In just 4 months we will have a 1 year old. We are now in October, which means his first Halloween, then Thanksgiving and of course Christmas!

He is going to be Rex from Toy Story for Halloween. We got the costume last weekend. It's super cute. We haven't tried it on him yet though. Not quite sure how it will work - he won't be able to sit in his stroller with his dinosaur tail, lol. And we've gotten mixed responses as to whether or not it's acceptable to take your babe trick-or-treating when it's apparent that he's not going to be able to eat any of the candy.

The zoo is having a thing there for Halloween that sounds fun and I was thinking that if we get some of the cousins along than it won't matter, lol. Plus it would be cute to see the other little ones in the family dressed up. We'll see.

Daven is super close to crawling. Super. He scoots and turns himself on his belly right now. He also rolls over a lot more, AND he can go from sitting to on his belly all on his own. Yesterday he got his knees up, but when those went up his face went down on the floor. He need to babyproof - stat!

Also yesterday he was sitting next to A on the couch. I was on the floor next to them just watching him play. He leaned over, grabbed A's shirt, and pulled himself up to standing while leaning on A. Ah! He's growing up so fast!

There is a ton more that I need to update on, but since this is still my sick time and I am picking up bubby from my dads at noon, I need to try to get some more sleep.

Not enough hours in the day

Well, I guess I failed that 30 day blog challenge. Damn.

But seriously, now that I'm working, how is there enough time to do everything? The house is a mess (ok, so it was never spotless before, but I was generally able to keep it up better while I was home) and I am exhausted. Yes, I was tired before. Sure. Everyone is tired all the time, regardless. But damn.

So I wake up, try to take a super fast shower because the liquid plummer hasn't worked yet at declogging my hair out of the bathtub drain and A has to take a shower after me. Then I take Daven to my dad's and head to work. I start to feel myself crash at lunch time and I'm super antsy the second half of the school day to get back to Daven. I go pick him up, sometimes hang out over there for a bit, and then we come home. Daddy has class two nights a week, and those nights we eat dinner and then Daven and I hang out and snuggle until he's ready to go to bed. Then I go to bed with him.

Daven said dada - twice! I was half asleep when he said it and had to double check with A to make sure I wasn't dreaming it. He hasn't said it or anything else since then, but we were so excited!

He now has three teeth and one is about to break through.

He can generally tolerate sitting in a high chair for longer periods of time and can entertain himself more.

We have a scootcher! When he's on his belly Daven can turn himself around. He's getting closer to crawling. And while I am so excited for that because it's a huge milestone, I'm not quite ready for him to be mobile. Our house is nowhere near babyproofed or clean enough for him to be wandering around!

I'm sure that I'm leaving all sorts of things out. I hate when I have long stretches without writing here. But spending time with A and Daven is the most important thing. Hopefully when I become more accustomed to the working schedule and balance I can be more consistent on here again. Until then I guess you'll just have to find another way to talk to me!

So I know I haven't blogged since I went back to work on Friday. Things have been crazy and I have had a hard time dealing with my emotions. As I go in for my first full week things are going to get very hectic. A starts school tomorrow, while still going to work full time too.

This is not what I want to do, obviously. It would be better if I were getting paid more, obviously. But I've got to find a way to deal. ::I will deal. I will deal. I will deal::

I have an interview Wednesday at Heartland Music Together. It's similar to the Wee Rock (which I didn't head back about) in that it's parent/child music classes for the little ones, but it's more established and there's an actual 3 day seminar you have to attend in order to be trained to do it. This would not mean that I would be able to quit what I'm doing right now. Actually it would mean that I would be adding work to my, well load. (haha)

But the hope is that this lady likes me, hires me for the Saturday morning classes, and then when she expands the business, gives me enough classes that I will only have to do only that instead of what I'm doing now. So I'm crossing my own fingers.

I've just been spending this weekend snuggling with bubby as much as I possibly can. I am so sad and anxious about having to leave him. I really hope that I can get to the Dr. soon and get this whole medicine thing worked out.

It's past my bedtime. But just worrying about tomorrow makes me not be able to sleep. Seriously, this has got to stop.

And and Shelbs, I think that you should adopt another dog. I know that in the past year or so you have had total shit luck with that, but dogs make you happy. Plus I would love to add another dog to our family and I could live vicariously through you!

I didn't mean for this to be a depressing post. I'm just struggling a bit right now with the change and transitions that are happening.

My last day as a stay at home mom

I knew it would have to come to an end. We are struggling to pay our bills. But I didn't think that I would get a call today and have to start tomorrow. I had a breakdown and literally had trouble breathing.

So tomorrow I start working as an aid in a special needs preschool. This should be interesting. The pay is crap so lets hope it's worth it.

I called dad this morning after I got the offer to ask him about watching bubby. He said he would do it for a bit, but that I needed to make other arrangements because he has things he needs to do. Then he said he wouldn't watch him this next Tuesday because he was going to go to the fair "come hell or high water". WTF. I was so upset.

My sister realized how upset I was and called my mom. She promptly called me and I told her what was going on and how I really didn't have a choice but to take the job. She went home on her lunch to lay into my dad and he completely changed his story. Sure he'd watch Daven. He just can't do it some times when he has a dr.'s appointment. I told mom no, this was not what he said to me.

So I don't know what's going to happen. If I can just make it through tomorrow that will be a huge step.

I finally got up the nerve to call my OB this morning about my ppd. Apparently they will only monitor that through 3 months pp and I have to go see someone else about it now. Stupid.

Have I mentioned yet that bubby sleeps on his side now? It's so stinking cute!

Well it's getting late so I'm going to drown my worries in a chocolate chocolate chip muffin and snuggle in bed with my little guy. Pray for me - I'm going to need it!

An all-around good day

This is the face of a little bubby who is not a fan of edamame (soy beans). Sorry, Daven.

Daven splashed in the pool today! He's always loved the pool, but today was the first time that he actually splashed around like he does in the tub. My dad was holding him and out of nowhere he did it! Then he looked around like "Why is my face wet now?" Then he did it again and again. It was so funny to watch.

I am kind of sad that my SIL is going back to school tomorrow. I've really liked having her home this summer. She's a lot of fun to be around. BUT I'm glad that she's going to school and happy that she is more looking forward to it than she was last year. The first year is the hardest for sure!

She treated us to dinner tonight, since we are beyond on a budget and she wanted to spend time with us. We went to Dragon's King's Daughter and it was of course, amazing! These are the same people who created and own Maido, my favorite place to eat. Well, it was my favorite anyhow. Now I can't choose between these two!

I was so happy to see Toki (one of the owners) tonight. Since we don't get to eat out as much and she just had a baby, we hadn't seen her in a long time. She even brought her daughter down for us to meet - what a sweetie!

Seaweed salad, the best sushi ever, and tacos (yes tacos!)

We seriously stuffed our faces and after we couldn't eat another bite we got dessert. You really can't go wrong with Tempura-fried Snickers bar and green tea ice cream!

When the bill came, we were very confused. Toki gave us a huge discount! Thanks so much!





Oh, and more good news - I just found out that this place called Wee Rock is hiring and I am going in tomorrow to observe a class and talk to the owner. It would be a part time teaching position/ They do child/parent music classes and it sounds like something I would really enjoy. Wish me luck!

Job interview; photo session teaser

So I had my interview this morning. There were 5 people in the room asking me questions and it was for 4 different jobs. Two were preschool, 1 special needs, 1 regular, then 1 was middle school and 1 middle/high school, both for students who have been suspended from their regular schools.

I found out that with the latter two jobs I would have to be comfortable learning and utilizing physical restraining techniques to use if necessary on the students. I'm guessing that a lot of the hs students are going to be male (judge me if you must) and I wonder, how would I overpower them?

For the 2 preschool jobs, I would have to be able to change diapers and clean up messes that involve, well, you know.

All of this and I would only get paid $8.23-8.74 an hour. There are no benefits, which isn't a big deal as long as A stays where he is. But for holidays and summers, I wouldn't get paid.

I tried to ask dad about the possibility of watching Daven, but the only thing he would say was that I shouldn't even bother with those jobs.

This is, of course, if I am even offered a job in the first place!

I sent in my resume to be an Ads Quality Rater for Google. If by chance I hear from them, that would be part time work from home at I believe $15 an hour.

This whole bit stresses me out. I wish I could just find a cubicle job somewhere that paid decent.

Changing subjects...

Daven slept a bit better last night. He still woke up quite a few times, but his diaper was literally bulging it was so wet. I don't think I could sleep like that either.

Oh, and check this out - a preview of the pics we got done!

I love Cuppycakes!

One of my awesome internet friends has been baking away and started a blog, Cuppycakes. She is doing her first giveaway, and I want!

You should check it out - you will drool over her pictures of homemade cupcakes!

I'm blogging to win cupcakes in a jar - vanilla bean. ::drools::