Things I've Learned

Patrick is only 10.5 weeks, but he has taught me a lot already. It's exciting to see what he is learning each day and what I am learning from him already.

1) The simple joy of learning something new. It's so fun to see the things he is learning each day. He has discovered his hands recently. Patrick will lie for an hour and just stare at his hand. He will look at his hand and then put it in his mouth, pull it out and repeat. An hour of this doesn't seem like a lot but for a baby, it's a long time.

2) Talking with someone doesn't always have to make sense. Patrick is becoming more vocal each day. We will lie of the floor and "talk" after nursing. We play word games, sing songs, and read books to increase his language learning. When he coos I mimic his noises.

3) Growing can be messy. He has had a diaper blowout every night since Sunday night. He is fine during the day as I change him before each feeding, but since he sleeps longer at night I don't get to change him as often. I think I need to move him up to the next diaper size at night.

4) Sleep for 5 hours is a wonderful thing. I use to be groggy and grumpy if I didn't get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Now if I get 4 hours of sleep I wake up feeling well rested. Patrick has been sleeping 5 or more hours each night in one stretch. I've come to enjoy the 4-5 hours of sleep I get. I don't go to bed right after putting Patrick to bed at 8:30, but I no longer stay up much later than 9:30. Usually by 9:00 I'm starting to nod off.

5) Clean is a relative term. I use to think a clean apartment meant all things were put away in their proper place, and the couch and floor was clean and clear of clutter. Now, clean means that the laundry on the loveseat has been washed, but no folded. The living room floor has only a blanket near the couch, a play mat off to the side, a baby swing hear the patio door, a bouncy seat near the rocking chair, and the bump near the loveseat. The back of the couch is a drying rack for the burp cloths and the boopy and pillow we use when nursing are on the middle cushion of the couch. This is my clean living room (you can just barely see the laundry, most of it is piled on the other side of the couch):

Wordless Wednesday

10 Weeks

My little sweetpea is 10 weeks old today. He is getting stronger and bigger each day. I enjoy when we visit people we haven't seen in a while and we get to show off everything Patrick is doing now. I see Patrick everyday, so sometimes I forget that the last time we saw friends he wasn't doing certain things. We went to Fond du Lac for Ron and Mary's 40th Anniversary, and was able to show the new things Patrick can do. Grandma and Grandpa like to see how Patrick can hold his head up well when laying on his tummy. Grandma loved hearing Patrick talk and move his arms around. I think Patrick got a little overwhelmed with everyone and everything that was going on. He didn't sleep well most of the time. Instead of his normal 1.5 hour naps, he got about 45 min to 60 min on average. At least he didn't get extremely fussy. Aunt Rachel even put him to sleep for me once or twice.

Only three more weeks before I head back to work to finish out the school year. I'm dreading having to leave Patrick for most of the day, but I'll only have two months left of school before summer, so it won't be too bad (I hope). Patrick is going to be watched by a friend from church, Beth Nill. She lives right across the street from us and had two boys of her own.

Five Question Friday

I decided to change Friday Fun Foto to Wordless Wednesday instead. On Fridays I'll have five questions to answer about my-self or my family as a whole. Anybody have any ideas what I can do the rest of the week? Hope you enjoy.


1. Have you ever testified in court? For what?
No, but I did have to spend the day waiting for jury selection. Sent the whole day sitting in a room to earn a whopping $25. I could have been working and earning a heck of a lot more.

2. Do you still have your wedding dress?
Yes, considering Michael and I were married a little over a year ago, I had better still have it. I'm trying to decided what to do with it. I want to either a) clean and box it the way it is, or b) cut the skirt to knee length and use the fabric from the bottom to make something for each child.

3. Is there a special place you like to go when you're happy, sad, stressed, etc.?
Not yet in Beaver Dam. When I lived in Skopje, Macedonia; I loved to walk to the center of town and sit by the Vardar River. It was a great place to watch people or just relax while watching the river flow by.

4. If you have kids, do they sleep with you? If you don't have kids...will you let your kids sleep with you when/if you have them?
Patrick use to sleep in a bassinet next to the bed. We have been working on transitioning him to his crib at night. So far so good.

5. Do you watch late night TV?
The latest I usually watch is 10 now. I do sometimes turn the TV on when Patrick has is late night feeding around 2:30 or 3:30. I keep the volume off or very low. I'm not much of a night owl.

No Job Next Year, What to Do?

The Budget Repair Bill, BRB, has passed here in Wisconsin. Many different agencies are feeling the crunch, schools included. My job is currently being funded by a grant from the state. The grant is to help school start and maintain programs to help at-risk students. Today I found out that in the BRB the grant that funds my job was completely cut. I will be able to finish out the school year, but will not have the same job next year.

There is the possibility that I will have a job as a 5th grade teacher. The current 5th grade teacher is retiring, but the school is not sure if they will fill the position. Part of the BRB also cuts millions of dollars in school funding. One way school are looking to make up for the missing money is not to replace the retiring teachers. Jobs are being combined, and in Fall River's case two classrooms are being combined into one classroom. This makes replacing the retiring teacher unnecessary. Every school in the state is facing similar issues. While may people are retiring, the schools will not necessarily be filling the positions. Some districts are even considering closing whole school and combining them in other schools. This will leave teachers without jobs.

This all makes me worry about finding a new job this fall if Fall River decides not to fill the 5th grade position. I'm also up against teachers with more experience and the new graduates this spring. I'm also wondering already, I know prematurely, what to do if I don't get a job. Should I get a full time job somewhere else? Should I substitute? If I substitute I would need someone to watch Patrick on the days I work. Who would be willing to do that? Would a daycare or home daycare let me pay only for the days he comes? Should I just be a stay-at-home mom? I would love to do that, but I'm not sure we can live on just Michael's income. Could I work from home? What jobs would let me do that? Maybe I could do daycare for 2 or 3 children, but where would I put them in our little apartment? I don't know. I just have to wait and pray. God will always lead and answer our prayers. He is in control, and I just need to wait for his guidance.

Baby Hiccups

When I was pregnant with Patrick he would get the hiccups at least once a week. It was fun to feel the regular movements of him as he hiccuped. It was the one time I could promise someone would be able to feel him move. Usually as soon as I told people he was moving around he would stop so they couldn't feel him, but not when he had the hiccups. Now Patrick still gets the hiccups at least one a week. They are so cute to see and hear. Patrick doesn't seem to mind them and I couldn't help but take a video of them. Enjoy!
Video

Booklover

I love to read, love to. I've been looking for a list of books to read. You know, something along the lines of 100 Must Read Books or 100 Best Books of All Times. In my search I discovered the great website, goodreads.com. It have a lot of different lists depending on what you like to read. It even has discussion groups you can join and a book swap area. I'm loving this site right now. The only thing it needs is a place to see recommendations based on previously read books.

Friday Fun Fotos

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Should have waited

Should have waited. Why is it that when you are looking to buy something that will be used a lot and is meant to last a long time, you have a hard time finding exactly the right one? You compare prices, quality, design, patterns, and more. Yet, it seems that you can’t find the perfect one. Time is running out, so you buy the one you like the best.

This seems to be my lot in life. Especially when what I am buying is expensive and I have to have it buy a certain time. When shopping for Patrick’s baby gear; car seat stroller, swing, pack-n-play, ext., I wanted to find one that was gender neutral. The plan is to use the same stuff for all the kids. I don’t want to buy boyish things and then have a girl next. Looking high and low, I couldn’t find one that jumped out at me and said “I am the one. Buy me.” I purchased the best gender neutral looking that I liked and could find. Fast forward 2-3 months. On Saturday, Rachel and I were out shopping and stopped in at Target. There it was; the perfect design! To bad it was 2-3 months to late and I already have Patrick’s baby gear. I call Patrick my “sweet pea.”

The one I have and the perfect one.

8 weeks

Patrick is 8 weeks tomorrow and in a couple days, Thursday, he will be 2 months. He is getting bigger each day, just about out grew his bassinet already. I plan to transition him to his crib at night at the end of the month. He is also smiling a lot more now. Usually he will smile right after a nap when I'm changing his diaper or after eating. He is also cooing and making more noises, especially when he is starting to get tired. Patrick also laughed for the first time on Saturday in the afternoon. He was sleeping on my while I watched a movie. He started to giggle in his sleep. It was the best thing I've ever heard. Now I'm just waiting for him giggle while awake and playing with Michael or I.

Time is going fast and I've only got one more month until I go back to work. I'm kind of looking forward to heading back to work, but not looking forward to having to leave Patrick. Thankfully, one of the women, Beth Nill, from our small group at church is going to take him for the rest of the school year. They live right across the street from us making him very close to home. I still need to find someone to watch Patrick when school starts again this fall. I'd prefer to have him in a home daycare rather then a center. I just feel like he would get more attention in a home daycare.

Friday Fun Foto

Should have done this when he still fit his "Rock on Little Dude" outfit.

6 weeks

Patrick is six weeks old now. We've had our ups and downs during those six weeks, mostly ups. Patrick is growing like mad and enjoys sitting in his bouncy chair. We've tried the Bumbo, but he's still a little young for that. I do give him tummy time each day, usually only about 5 minutes then he fusses. He can hold is head up pretty well for a little while. He is

starting to stare at brightly colored objects and seems to be enthralled by the pictures above the couch when feeding. Patrick is learning to smile as well. He will smile when I talk to him and smile at him, but I'm not sure if it's a true social smile yet. He hasn't smiled at anyone else yet, but he hasn't been around a lot of other people. I tried to get a picture of him smiling at me. He will smile bigger than this, but I kept missing it. What do you think social smile?




This Sunday was Patrick's first time at church. He did well, and was a hit with many of the people there. It was good to be back in church and around other adults for an extended period of time. It was also his first time in a restaurant. My parents came to visit and we went to Applebee's for lunch.


Breast-feeding is going much better. We were having a lot of problems at the start. First, one nipple was flat, so I had to use a breast shield in order get him to latch on. We were able to wean off that and latch onto the breast only. This caused pain every time we nursed, but nothing seemed to help. Last week, I had developed a clogged duct. It hurt like crazy to even touch let alone have Patrick nurse. Thankfully, that cleared up by Sunday. I still have some pain on one side, but that has been a problem since I weaned him from the breast shield.