Your Baby Can Read

I did it, I gave in and bought this freaking program off the tv this morning at 5:30am. It just really seems like it could help Austin. I hated to read growing up and still am not a huge fan. Justin loves to read, so really A has a 50/50 chance of liking it as well with out the program. BUT WHY NOT! I am home now and will have the time to really work with him on this.
See, I am already on a new path! They aren't really that expensive and not only will I use them for Austin, but any future babies and of course I will be borrowing them to my new niece to be - Lindsey Bjoin - J's brother and his wife are due in April. I am so freaking excited about that. We are going to share some stuff so that way they won't have to buy a bunch of baby crap that will only be used 5-15 times by each child. It's so true! Austin used to LOVE his Bumbo chairs and now he doesn't stay in them long because he wants to try and crawl everywhere. Plus he can sit up on his own, with a boppy pillow behind him for support when he he does fall over. Oh yeah, and I have like 2 of everything. We have a big house so it just makes it so much easier to have multiples of things. Luckily I have found a lot at garage sales so I haven't spend much. I have 3 boppy pillows all for less than the cost of 1 new boppy pillow at the store. :) GO ME!
This is a Bumbo - we have 2 right now, but they will be going to Marcy soon. :)

So I will keep you up to date on the effectiveness of this new learning/playing program for Austin so that you can make your own informed decision.
Have a great Saturday!

A New Chapter

As most of my friends and family know, I have always been a competitive career oriented person. I met Justin and moved to Arizona 3 years ago, best decision of my life. In Colorado and in Portland I LOVED my jobs. I would have done anything for my company, my arenas/buildings, my co-workers and my customers. I just Loved what I did and I worked all the time. When we moved to AZ I found a sales position right away, however it was vastly different from my previous sales manager positions. I needed a break from that world and to slow down a bit, I was planning a wedding after all! I started up almost immediately with Enterprise as an Administrative Assistant, basically an executive assistant for the VP of Fleet Management.
Not too long after, our VP left and a new manager came in. My role changed more to office helper. Whatever anyone needed help with, I did it. This wasn't meant to be my life long career but a good place to be until I figured it all out.
Than the new love of my life came along, Austin, and my priorities changed a bit. We struggled with what was best for our family; work, make that money for the fun stuff or stay home and raise our children and do without the fun stuff. So I worked.

Yesterday I was laid off from my job at Enterprise. Of course I cried immediately when they shut the door and HR was in the room. I am actually pretty smart and know what is going on. I said "oh no, you are breaking up with me?" It is true though, isn't it? Isn't leaving a job like breaking up? I love my co-workers, I love my company but I completely understand their decision. The economy is down and I struggle everyday to find enough work to do so I don't want to hang myself in boredom. I like to be busy and productive, but there just wasn't enough for me to do anymore.

I have never been let go of any job my entire life and that may be the hardest part to swallow. But I will look and if the right job/career is out there, I will find it and I will get it. In the meantime, I will be lucky enough to spend this invaluable time with my baby, my love. I will have a WAY cleaner house and finally get that freaking X-mass tree taken down! SO ANNOYING! I will also have more time and energy to workout, cook healthier meals and get some much needed down time.

I was very fortunate to receive a severance package and after that is done, I will file unemployment. Hopefully the right job will find me and oh yes, I will be looking closer to home.

So this is a new chapter in my life. I am not really sad anymore, still a little shocked, but like everything that has come my way, I will make the very most and best of it. Thanks for the support and I look forward to writing future posts as my new career starts as a STAY AT HOME MOM.

Sinuses, Eczema and Teething - OH MY!

You may or may not be aware of a few challenges we have been facing with Austin's health. Since he was born he started vomiting up his milk so around 8 weeks we slowly started giving him soy formula and some rice cereal mixed in to all his bottles. He also had a few rashes on his face and head.
Over some time and moving slowly to soy formula only at 5 months old, Austin is no longer spitting up to the point of vomit!! WHOHOO! However his skin is a whole other issue. They call eczema Baby Asthma. It is basically the way a baby shows he has allergies and asthma. We started using creams on him at the 8 week mark as well and they did help a little. But as he has gotten bigger, the rashes have drastically intensified.
Yesterday I hit a breaking point and took him to the pediatrician again, only 1 months since his 6 month check up. At his 6 month appt the pedi prescribed a stronger cream for his rashes and VaniCream to put all over him to help his dryness. It hasn't helped. He is so bad and literally scratching all his skin off.
IT MAKES ME CRY!
She said it is time to take him to a dermatologist, so I sit and wait for a call back to make the appointment. He also has a bad fungal thing happening in his private area that she gave us a prescription for. Oh and on top of that, his nose has been running for 2 months straight. We started Benedryl a month ago and that is helping but not much. He also has a sinus infection and we have some antibiotics for that now.
MY POOR BABY! OH and on top of all of that, he is teething. He wakes up every night now screaming and can't fall back asleep because of the pain. We give him these little dissolving tablets to help but they don't seem to do much good. I also tried giving him some Baby Tylenol to help with the pain, still no luck. Finally we gave him a small bottle and J took over around 2:00am because I am still sick and not getting any sleep.
I hit another breaking point this morning when my supervisor looked at me and said, Oh no you are still sick! I just cried and said, I am just so tired and upset about my baby boy. I hate crying at work.
Let's hope we can figure something out soon for Austin. PLEASE GOD HELP US! Help ME!

Battle of the Baby Bulge

If you are a mother or a women in general, you understand how it feels to always want to lose those extra pounds. Well it is so Game On with me and this baby weight right now.
I gained 63 whopping pounds with my Austin. I was shocked when the doctor said their was really only one baby in there. I could have sworn 2 were going to come out. Unfortunately I had only one baby and one giant Big Mac/Chocolate Ice Cream. BOO I say!! Boo on you intense cravings and lack of motivation to cook in my last trimester - BOOO!
After my emergency C-section and delivering a very healthy 8lb baby boy - not 20 as I sort of hoped - I did not even lose a pound when I got home on the scale 5 days later. How could this be??? Yeah, extra water weight from all the IV's. More BOO!
However over the next 2 weeks I dropped about 30 pounds of water weight. I was in the bathroom much more than I expected post bump. I thought the rest would come off like the first half, but again, I was wrong. I really don't like being wrong.
Finally I started playing dodgeball again and started going to these bootcamps by my house one night a week. Than I decided to start Jenny Craig back up. I had kept my membership going even though I had not participated for a couple of years.
Finally, I started to drop some weight. I lost another 18 pounds.
Now with 15 pounds to go till I hit my pre-pregnancy weight I hit a little brick wall. But due to being sick and trying to stick to the plan - I dropped 3 pounds this week! I AM PUMPED! So 12 pounds to go and counting!! But of course I would like to lose another 10-20 beyond that to get to 1. my wedding weight and than 2. my most fit college track star weight. BRING IT!

Sicko

Don't you think being sick is just the worse way to spend your time and your day? I DO! I was sick all freaking weekend and still am. I was super sick yesterday and stayed home from work, which I only do if I am really bad off. I just hate to waste a "vacation" day being home and in bed all day. BOOO to being sick!
But my hubby was SUPER SWEET and took care of the little guy all day so I could rest. He even woke me up around noon to see if I wanted some of the frozen pizza he made. I didn't really want to get up but thought that sounded pretty good. He even moved the spicy pepperonis off of the one side BEFORE cooking it for me. I am super sensitive to spicy anything and that was really sweet of him to do. Thanks Babe!
I went right back to sleep till 4pm when I decided I needed to finally get up and see my baby.
So now I am back at work and feel much better. I am still a little sick with the coughing and stuffed up nose but I can function. Thank you sleep, husband and NyQuil. :)

It's Raining It's Pouring...

If you are not aware, AZ is experiencing some extreme raining and flooding. As I drove into work today, going a good 5 mph faster than the "fast" drivers, I quickly missed my life and daily, rainy commute to work in Portland, OR.
Oh how I miss my Portland friends!! You guys rock!! We had so much freaking fun together. One day, maybe, I will get my butt back there for a visit.

So last night, after I cried it out to the hubby, he attempted to want to hang out and talk to me. So that was nice, he even put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher. After I get upset, I usually have a good 1-2 weeks of him trying to be nice to me and help out around the house. So I will do my best to take full advantage of this short span of time. hehe

Austin woke up early this morning. His gums are just killing him right now. He woke up once for a few minutes last night to moan and move, than back to sleep. He was up a little before 5am today. My hubby was nice enough to go sleep in the other bedroom bc I was going insane with the noises coming from his mouth and nose. When I got him up this morning the first thing he says is "this bed is hard". Hehe that is hilarious. I was like, I KNOW! This was his bed in Portland and he couldn't understand why I never wanted to sleep over at his place. :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Enjoy your Weekend - rain, snow, wind or sunshine.

"Why would you create a blog?"

So I am a little pumped to have started this whole adventure of spilling my guts and talking about whatever I want to with this blog. Than out of the sky, came like a bolt about to strike me down, "Why would you create a blog?" asks my loving and oh so considerate husband.
Why did I create a blog? I get up every morning to the sound of my husband's alarm, just before 5am. I turn it off and hear him get ready. I say goodbye at 5:15am and try to fall back asleep. That is usually short lived as my son begins to talk/cry. I take care of him, I get ready and out the door to daycare/work at 7am. I do enjoy work and my time with other communicating adults. Than home at 5:15pm in which I Have to take care of my baby the whole time because my husband needs to play his "games". I try to eat my dinner while feeding Austin (baby), give him his bath and put him to bed between 7pm and 7:30pm. I watch tv, clean up the kitchen, dishes, bottles, laundry or whatever I see that needs to be done, try to hop on the elliptical and go to bed around 9pm. Luckily I get to hear my hubby's game make it's annoying little noise right below our bedroom until he decides to call it a night. At this point I hear him come in, go to the bathroom and SNAP! He hits the pillow and instantly falls asleep. How lucky he is, and how lucky I am to get to hear his new fun sleeping habit of SNORING! Depending on the night, I get up with Austin to comfort him back to sleep - he is teething. So my sleep isn't as great as it could be considering my baby does usually sleep a good 10-11 hours a night. In there I randomly have boot camp or softball/dodgeball some nights, I need to work this baby weight off somehow.
I really don't have anyone to just "Shoot the Shit" with and just talk to about my day or what is bugging me, or what I am excited about. My hubby just isn't really there for talking because "we don't like to talk about the same things." Luckily I do have a few friends I email with very regularly that help me get out all my gabbing.
But here is this fun way to "talk" about all that crap that I want to talk about. If someone wants to read it they can, if they don't, they don't have to! No Pressure but at least I feel like someone is listening to me and not constantly telling me that they are not able to talk/listen right now because they are in the middle of a game.

Thanks for listening. I really think this will help me get through my little unhappy funks that I so often experience. And please don't get me wrong, I love my husband, but we are so very different in so many ways and he just doesn't understand me or want to sometimes.
Peace Out! Better blog to come tomorrow. :)

I Did It!! I am finally living in 2010!! I have a BLOG!

Can you freaking believe it, me, the girl who hates to read, has produced a blog in which others can read. I really am a giver.
But honestly, I have been talking about starting one since I was pregnant and just wasn't sure if I should, if I would have the time or energy, or if anyone would even bother reading it.
What to expect from this blog: My Sarcasm and Babbling on and on about issues and topics you may or may not have any desire to read about or be able to relate to. But that is just how I roll. :)
Thank you for reading and sharing my blog - please post comments or email me or whatever it is you are able to do on here to communicate to me.
Happy Reading!