Thursday, September 25, 2008

One more week...

I have only ONE more week until I am back full time teaching. It's back to reality.
I have learned a lot about myself over the last 2 months! :) I have enjoyed Carson (even when I had no sleep and he cried a ton!!) so much it's not even funny. I know the people at work made fun of me when I SWORE that I wasn't taking any time off. Then, I left for the Summer pretty darn sure that I was only taking 2 weeks off because people were giving me grief about it. Well, I am VERY thankful I am going back when he is 12 weeks old!!!

The boy's just sooooooooo much fun. I almost hate running errands because it means that I am missing his play time at home! He is really loving the Mat and batting at the toys. He has figured out how to grip the toys!

Today was my first day without a nap (UGH!). I figured I better get my body back into the real world and not take a nap at all! It was rather rough to say the least. However, it's amazing how much you can get done while he is sleeping. Today's Agenda: School work. I spent the entire day trying to get ahead on lesson plans, so I can enjoy him more when I get home in the evenings. Then, I won't be "planning" and only grading papers!!

Since I spent today only doing school work, no housework got done!! I still have my lunch and supper dishes in the sink. I was hoping the invisible person would put them in the dishwasher for me. It didn't happen!! :(

On a really great note---Hubby has only another two weeks to drive the 4 hours a day to work! He is going to be back to Circleville, only a 20 min. drive! WOOTTTTT I am so excited. :)
I am hoping that will mean that he will do more around the house so I don't have to run myself ragged trying to do it all!!! I guess the more time he will have at home, it probably will happen. Well, once he spends a few days just loafing since he hasn't had much relaxation since Carson was born, (wait, neither have I!)

Upcoming news: Carson's little girlfriend is turning one. He will be attending his first birthday party. Cicora is coming home and I really hope that we get to see her

Stay tuned for pictures of my little guy in his cute baseball outfit today!!!!

Oh wait---I didn't do any laundry today so I am not even sure if hubby has work clothes tomorrow, but I guess he should have checked himself! LOL

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Clean or upload pictures?







Carson just born













Carson at one month












Carson at Two Months

















Marie will be overly proud that I chose to upload some pictures instead of clean while Carson is napping! :)






Jenn will just be happy that she can finally see some pictures.






Cara will be happy that she has power to be able to read the post/see the pictures.






My husband won't care either way what I have done today as long as Carson is taken care of, ha ha






I may have some other readers, but I have more readers on myspace!
I will get better at posting pictures/blogging (as you can see I need practice here!)

Miracle Grow

At Carson's two month appt. he was 25 inches tall ( a growth of 2 1/2 inches in a month) and 13.5 pounds. Both are in the 97th percentile. According to the Doctor, my breast milk has some miracle grow.

It's been a huge adjustment around the house to a newborn, but I wouldn't trade a single minute of it. It's amazing how much work goes into caring and raising a little one! I am thankful for my husband being there for me. He has went through the ups and downs and been there to hear every one of my million fears and frustrations. He is a wonderful guy (when he isn't being a typical male!!!). Don't get me wrong, I had my share of tears being mad at the man, but overall he is great!

His biggest issue is that he drive two hours one way (I know he loves me!) to work. Hopefully, that situation will improve SOON and he will be only 40 min. away. Additionally, he had to do SO much with John as an infant, that because I am the one doing the BF, he doesn't know his place. When he is home, he is in charge of the burping, getting him ready for the bath and the aftermath of the bath. I am in charge of the pouring the water over him while Eric washing him and picking the temperature of the water. Ironically, Carson would SCREAM when Eric picked the water because he was trying to go with his body temperature and Carson has mine! As of last night, he has started to doing the feeding before bed. We have to work through Carson going to a babysitter, which means he has to be proficient with a bottle....something he isn't!

:) It's rather strange to be home while I have students in school. I thought at first I would only take two weeks off, until the little guy was in my arms. Then, I realized that Carson only was young once and my students could be whipped back into shape. I do have a great sub, but nobody will be as Type A organized as me. I wake up many nights thinking about my room and how much work it will take to get it put back together! Why can't I just enjoy the time that I have off??? ;)

SO, not only do I have a little man who is growing, he sure loves to talk. Hubby told the Doctor that he gets it honestly from me. Dr. Melnick said whatever the case may be, it shows that he is talked to frequently. Heck, I love talking to whoever will listen........most adults get sick of hearing it, but Carson doesn't. I LOVE hearing him COOOOOOOO. It's so fun!

I haven't been the best at updating with pictures. It seems that free time is spent getting extra sleep, cleaning, laundry, checking myspace and e-mail (but not writing people back) etc. I do check up on other peoples blogs and laugh at how much I need to update mine, especially with pictures. But, you have to be just happy with a blog for now.

I appreciate all the support that I have gotten from people who are already parents. I don't have all the time to research what is best for Carson. As a teacher, I always was told "Why reinvent the wheel". I firmly believe this more with parenting than teaching. I like to ask the friends who are parents what has worked for them.

Carson struggles with body temperature. This is evident the most in the car. The little guy goes from hot to cold to hot to cold. Again, another trait he picked up from me. My mother bought us a little fan, and that seems to help with the hot part of it. It's hard driving down the highway at 70 to figure out which temperature he is. Therefore, car rides for me are pretty stressful!!

Not only do I love hearing him coo, I love the sad face he gets when someone else is holding him, and he hears my voice! I have spent many, many, many hours with Baby Boo, so I can see why he is a momma's boy!

Carson loves to spend time in the bouncy seat while we eat supper. He enjoys seeing many lights and having us talk to him over dinner. He only likes the swing when he is really tired. The boppy pillow is used the most for our morning meetings where we discuss what we are going to do for the day. Today is a STAY AT HOME all day! I won't have many of those left, so I am going to enjoy it. Thankfully, I have had enough sleep, so I will use free time writing this blog, writing my professional goals and objectives and putting together the Unit 2 Math lessons for the sub!

Oh wait, back to Carson! He is also enjoying the Bumpbo (however you spell it). He is able to watch mommy read the books and can look at the pictures in this seat. Reading is a favorite pasttime of his father, so he is read to in the morning by me and in the evening by Eric. John is an avid reader as well. John's gotten his hands on reading to him as well. However, Carson was distracted by the Bengals playing (and losing of course). John said "Julie, Carson isn't listening to me because he is watching TV". Ha I of course had a smarty remark that said "Now you know how I feel when you and daddy are watching TV".

John has been a GREAT big brother. He will help us do anything but change the actual diaper. We have installed an allowance so that John felt he was getting something in return for his hard work and effort with Carson. Having him here that first week home was a godsend! The only time he has really gotten jealous was BEFORE Carson was here. He was upset that Carson had a "cooler" laundry hamper than he did. He thought he should take Carson's. NOT SO MUCH! So, I went out and bought him a matching laundry hamper. He told me one time after our road trip, "I don't know how you are going to do this alone, it's stressful". The 10 year old quotes crack me up! John enjoys his quaility time with his father as much as possible still, so I try to let the boys squeak in some alone time. However, that may entail Eric holding Carson in his famous football hold while they play video games and I get things done around the house, but it's the little things that John cherishes with a baby crying around the house.

Milestones: We are about 90% holding our head up, sleeping 5-8 hours at a time at night (if only mommy and daddy would go to bed earlier!!), grabbing for toys, talking a ton, kicking non-stop, standing time is remarkable, and tummy time on mommy is great. The standing time is way ahead of schedule. He has some strong legs which will make for a great catcher some day. He struggles with tummy time on the mat, but not when he is laying down on me. When he is on the mat, his legs want to move like he is crawling and he gets frustrated EASY! I am most thankful that he didn't struggle with breastfeeding.

That's all the time we have for now, Carson is stirring and ready to wake up from a nap! Hopefully soon, you will have some updated pictures!