Working From Home

Last night I hopped in the Explorer to go to dinner with Ginnie and Mia (two of my coolest friends) and the Explorer would not start… grrrr. It’s either the starter or the cylinoid. Ugh, I hate dealing with the cars. So I came in, grabbed the keys to Jim’s car and told him to call AAA

After a three hour dinner at California Pizza Kitchen… we had so much to talk about. We all worked together along with another woman (Terri who moved to St. Louis) 7 years ago. We still get together as often as possible. We all quit our jobs at the place we were working within 2 weeks of each other. Since then Mia and I have both gotten married. She’s had two children and I’ve had one. Ginnie’s son has graduated from high school and college and her daughter graduates high school this year. We used to span four decades but now that Mia turned 30 it’s down to three.

Since the Explorer is at the shop I’m working from home today. I use the term working loosely because between Robert and Harley I hardly have a minute to do anything. I’ve been working on this post for over 45 minutes!

Robert is teething so most of the day when he’s been awake he’s been whiny and wants to be held. For a bit squishy squash made him happy. And I’ve been rotating out his teething toys for him. He’s down for his afternoon nap now and hopefully will sleep for at least an hour.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous today so I’m making Harley stay outside. It’s sunny and 48 degrees out. She needs to realize that she’s a dog and spending the day on our bed is ridiculous when she can be out enjoying the sunshine.

Well, I better try to get some more work down. I’m trying to get new publicity materials put together for the fund raiser coming up in June. I spoke about it to the board Wednesday and they were all very excited. It’s been the best commitment I’ve seen to one of my ideas in a while. So, once again my little idea is ballooning and creating a lot more work. But I don’t mind, more work means more reward.

Memory Lane

These are my brother and I at our 6 month portraits. We looked a tad bit alike when we were little. And boy does Tank resemble the Thompson side of the family. I sure hope he gets my brother’s height. They look so much alike it’s uncanny. I guess they are right, the best parts live on. I wish my brother could have lived to see this. He would have been such a good uncle.

Becoming a Morning Person

I have never been a morning person. I loathe the mornings, you have to drag me out of bed. But that’s changing. This little guy is changing that. He wakes up in the morning cooing and babbling. I wake up to that. I usually let him coo and babble for about 15 minutes and then go in to get him up. I turn on the light and say “Good morning Robert Charles” and he raises his head and flashes me a winning grin. Yeah, I’m starting to really look forward to the mornings.

He’s getting so big. They told me at the preschool today that he’s putting himself to sleep now. They give him his bottle then lay him in his crib and he plays around for a few minutes and goes to sleep. It makes me happy that he is so secure. We must be doing something right.

Another Manic Monday

Oh wow, Monday all day today. I was so glad to be home. I still haven’t totally kicked this headache and all I wanted to do was take some drugs and go to bed. Jim had a dinner to go to tonight so it was just me and the Tank. He is teething and was pretty grumpy all night. He just wanted to be held. I managed to get him to entertain himself long enough in the exersaucer so that I could get the dishwasher loaded and unloaded and turn over the laundry. Then we just sat and cuddled. Finally about 6:30 he crashed and I put him to bed. There is nothing better than sitting and rocking a quiet baby.

After he got to sleep I got his bottles for tomorrow sanitized and his backpack put back in the truck so we’re ready for tomorrow morning. I also got the dishwasher unloaded and the trash taken out. I’m exhausted. Hopefully Tank manages to sleep through the night.

Pictures are my Mom and Tank yesterday. I know she had a good time with him and really enjoyed seeing all his new tricks. He’s growing up so fast. I wish we could freeze time for a bit.

Fun With Grandma

Robert and I made it out to visit my Mom today and had a great time. He smiled and laughed for her and showed her how he can push up on his arms and they talked. I think she almost enjoyed watching me holding him and interacting with his than she did holding him herself. She also got to see him eat bananas for the first time. He was in a really good mood all day.

When we left I had a headache starting and by the time we got home I was sick, sick. Full blown migraine. After four hours and a ton of meds I’m finally feeling a bit human again.

Got Robert’s two month layout done last night. Template is Heather Ann Designs quick fill page 54. I decided to use it for all the months because it gives a nice selection of sizes and orientations on the pictures. Paper and embellishments are from Shabby Princess Our Little Prince.

Saturday Scrappin

Last night I got home and was asleep by 6pm. I didn’t wake up until 10am this morning. I needed that. My body needed the rest. We are both a lot better this weekend than we were last weekend but it took every ounce of energy I had to make it through yesterday.

Today we’ve lounged a lot. We’ve barely left the bedroom for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. For one, it’s a lot of fun to play with Robert on the bed. He has space to move around. He can sit up and fall over without getting hurt with all the pillows and the foam topper. There are also lots of things to prop him on in different positions to really get him moving. He was all smiles and giggles between naps today.

I had a chance to work on some pages for Robert’s album. I still have three more of the monthly picture collages to do. I’ll start on another one when I finish this post. I can’t wait until he can look back over the pages and see his life and how he’s changed and grown.

I called my Mom today. She had been in a board training all day and was tired. She has a dinner to go to tomorrow night so Robert and I are going to run out in the early afternoon and spend a few hours with her. It’s been a month since she’s seen him. When my niece and nephew were little they lived with my Mom and Dad and even before they moved in they were there every day so it’s quite a change with Robert. I don’t want her to have the day to day duties with him like she did with Donnie and Erika. I want her to get to be a “real” grandma where she can spoil him and send him home. Things just get so busy and time gets away. I need to get better about getting out there so she has time with him. My aunt also needs time with him. I called her today and invited she and my uncle over next weekend for some chili and baby time. She happily said yes! When they come here they can see him in his exersaucer and in his high chair and all of his other toys.

My first layout is the story of him being born. We had scheduled the c-section for the 15th but he had other plans and showed up on the 13th. Layout is Joee by Miss Kim, paper and embellishments are from Jen Reed’s Another Baby Boy. The three month collage is a Heather Ann Designs quick fill template, paper and embellishments are from Karen Miller’s Boy Joy.

He’s Up!

Robert’s legs are getting so strong. He can support his weight if you help him with the balance part. Of course, he really likes doing this but did not want to smile for the camera.

Today was a miserable, yucky day. Sleet and snow all day. Luckily we made it around the roads without any major incidents and it’s nice to be back home curled up and warm.

So glad tomorrow is Friday. I’m needing some down time to rest and recoup.

Exhausted by the Drama

Wow! Today was drama all day long! We had a resignation at work that threw a real monkey wrench into the day. It was the new preschool director who after four weeks on the job resigned via email giving no notice. I have no idea what he was thinking. I realize it’s a tough job and there are a lot of things to be done but to just walk away… certainly not my style. Of course, I was called in to tackle the question of the letter to parents. I gave my opinions on what I would like to know as a parent and from that was given the job of drafting the letter. My boss was super stressed by everything today. We had high hopes for this employee and for him to just walk away without voicing his reasons beforehand is very frustrating. Sometimes it seems you take two steps forward and one back. I went up to the preschool about 4:15 and picked up Robert so he could come down to the admin. offices and snuggle with my boss for a bit before we came home… baby therapy, there’s nothing better.

Tomorrow we have a radio program to do. It’s a small, really small, ok – probably 6 listeners – AM station but the host is a friend of my boss. So tomorrow at 9am I’ll be on Radio Free Liberty. After that I need some desk time! I’ve got six big projects going right now, all are in the really early stages where they need a lot of fleshing out and I really need to have it done by next Wednesday. Part of it includes coming up with all new marketing material for a new special event so we can start talking to vendors and sponsors. Those all have to be designed, printed and assembled by March 3 and I haven’t even begun the design work yet.

We got a postcard for a new church the other day and I usually just ignore this stuff but this one mentioned being “involved in the community” so I dropped it into my briefcase to take to work. I need a classroom painted and I need it painted pretty quick. I’m not sure who chose purple and orange for this particular classroom but the colors are way too much for some of our kiddos. One in particular who has several sensory integration disorders is overwhelmed by it. I emailed the church today and they returned my email tonight and they’re sending volunteers March 8th and even offered to bring the supplies… yeah!!! This church has a creative arts program also and I’m hoping maybe they can offer us some help with classroom supplies and doing some programming with our adult clients.

Robert fell asleep in my bed today when I was getting ready for work. He was so cute I had to go grab the camera. The other picture is Robert’s swing with Harley’s toys in it. She’s started putting toys in the swing and on the exersaucer, she wants him to play with her so bad. Just a few more years and they’ll be romping through the back yard together.

Reunited

Jim is on the mend and felt good enough (and was fever free) so he and Robert got to catch up on their play time tonight. I know that Jim really missed playing with him. Robert had a lot to “tell” Daddy about what he’s been doing the past day and a half. He really is quite conversational.

Jim didn’t mend fast enough to save himself a little embarrassment this morning. I was sitting in management staff meeting and the boss’ cell phone went off. She went to her office to grab it but got there too late. She came out and looked at me and said, “It was from you, the call was from your house.” I excused myself to call home and see what was so urgent that Jim needed to call my boss. Apparently he woke up in a bit of a codeine fog from the cough medicine he took an hour earlier and became confused on what time it was so he decided to call me at work and ask me. He couldn’t remember the number so he used our caller ID log. Luckily my boss has a good sense of humor and told me that he can call for the time anytime he needed. Yes, my husband, “drunk dialing”. Next sick day I’m taking the phone away.

This is So Cool

I was lying in bed when it dawned on me that I was hearing music over the baby monitor. Apparently Robert woke up, pressed a button on his crib aquarium and went back to sleep. How cool is that? I love that he’s so secure.