Catching up... again, before it all hits the fan... again
Could someone please put my life in slowmo for just a little while? Please!?! Good gravy! It's been 5 weeks since I posted anything.
It's been hectic to say the least. I'm taking on more responsibilities at work again without actually being in the office. SO far it's working but beginning tomorrow we'll see how well that's really going. Close starts to tomorrow and I will have to get a lot done from home without much help with the kids. Luckily, my mom will be able to help Thursday and Friday, which will help me catch up onthe things that I won't have time for because I will be doing my "new" things on Wednesday. Yippee. No really. I am excited to be back in the fray. it's just hard figuring out how everything will work when my co-worker goes on maternity leave. Last month and the next two are all about preparing to do everything while she's out. I've never really been on the other side of a maternity leave from a co-worker standpoint only from the manager-employee side or as the co-worker out. I think I can better understand why those who do not have kids and do not plan to have them could resent those of us who do based on this experience. It helps for me to have been there. I don't mind it so much.
And now for the big news... as a birthday present to his daddy, Nathaniel took his first steps on 10/31! I'm not sure how to really count them. I had the same problem with Ella. I like to count each foot moving as a step, but I think technically it should be each "set" of steps. If it's the way I count, he took four steps. The other way, it's two. Either way, HE WALKED!!! It's pretty cool really. Ella crawled for the first time two years ago on that same day, her daddy's birthday. And now here we are with our last baby and he walked for Daddy's birthday. Woohoo!!! To make it even better, Carl and Nicole were here with us to witness it. We were glad to be able to share this event with them. They are such good and loving friends to us.
We have issues with Halloween in our house. It really complicates things that Rich's birthday falls on that day. My mom will never remember to call him as a result because Halloween will always be more important. I feel guilty to want to take the kids out because I also feel like we should be doing something special for Rich. I want to try and figure some way to make this all work better next year because I'm tired of feeling bad because his birthday is neglected. Rich is a trooper and never complains. Hell, after 37 years, I'm sure he's used to it. But I just don't like how I feel. There has to be a way to make this work better. Any suggestions?
We had a great time trick-or-treating. Ella wore her "princess" and Nathaniel was a skunk. With the help of the most wonderful Andrea and my mom, I was able to make a cape for Ella. She looked so cute. (I'll try to post pictures this weekend.) My mother, the Halloween fanatic, had a magazine of quick and easy costume ideas and as soon as I saw the skunk I knew I had Nathaniel's number. Ella decided she wanted to be a skunk too while I was making Nat's costume. So I ended up making two. However, in the end, we had a princess. We thought for a little while that she would end up as a skunk princess (which would have been cute too). Anyway... we just went up and down our street. Carl and Nicole brought the girls over too. So the four kids went out and moms and dads went too. It was a lot of fun. Highlights: Lindsey slipped into the first two houses and Lauren commented that she didn't like a particular type of candy given at a house (while we were still there). She also picked through a bowl or two looking for the specific piece that she wanted. She's our zany gal! Ella wore about five lighted bracelets and would quietly say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at every house. While she wasn't overly extroverted in this experience, I didn't really expect her to be and I was proud of how well she handled herself. She was a really good girl while we were out on the street. (She just became a bully when we got back home! Long story. Not too proud then. :o( But we're learning. She had to do some time on the naughty spot for pushing and trying to hit at Lindsey. It seemed to help at least a little. I think there was too mcuh for her tonight and poor Lindsey got the bad end of it.)
Back to Nathaniel, he's on his first round of antibiotics. At 9 months, we have the beginning of our first ear infection. They said we caught it early. Thank goodness. Poor little gut has had snot flowing from his nose ever since getting a cold about two weeks ago. I finally gave up on Monday and took him into the doc. It's an upper respiratory infection now and the ear infection. So Amoxicillin it is for us. And he loves it! Little piggy!
We leave for Phoenix on 11/12 because I'll become an aunt on the 8th. Yippee!!! Rich and I are very excited to be going and we've been pumping Ella up about it too. She's looking forward to flying on a plane. We posted a calendar on her bedroom door to countdown to the airplane days. She's such a sweetie (when she's not a beastie).
Anyway... a lot has happened. A lot is going to happening. And for now, that's all. I'm not going to use spell-check. I'm not going to proof this. Please forgive the errors. I'm off to bed. My love to you all!
It's been hectic to say the least. I'm taking on more responsibilities at work again without actually being in the office. SO far it's working but beginning tomorrow we'll see how well that's really going. Close starts to tomorrow and I will have to get a lot done from home without much help with the kids. Luckily, my mom will be able to help Thursday and Friday, which will help me catch up onthe things that I won't have time for because I will be doing my "new" things on Wednesday. Yippee. No really. I am excited to be back in the fray. it's just hard figuring out how everything will work when my co-worker goes on maternity leave. Last month and the next two are all about preparing to do everything while she's out. I've never really been on the other side of a maternity leave from a co-worker standpoint only from the manager-employee side or as the co-worker out. I think I can better understand why those who do not have kids and do not plan to have them could resent those of us who do based on this experience. It helps for me to have been there. I don't mind it so much.
And now for the big news... as a birthday present to his daddy, Nathaniel took his first steps on 10/31! I'm not sure how to really count them. I had the same problem with Ella. I like to count each foot moving as a step, but I think technically it should be each "set" of steps. If it's the way I count, he took four steps. The other way, it's two. Either way, HE WALKED!!! It's pretty cool really. Ella crawled for the first time two years ago on that same day, her daddy's birthday. And now here we are with our last baby and he walked for Daddy's birthday. Woohoo!!! To make it even better, Carl and Nicole were here with us to witness it. We were glad to be able to share this event with them. They are such good and loving friends to us.
We have issues with Halloween in our house. It really complicates things that Rich's birthday falls on that day. My mom will never remember to call him as a result because Halloween will always be more important. I feel guilty to want to take the kids out because I also feel like we should be doing something special for Rich. I want to try and figure some way to make this all work better next year because I'm tired of feeling bad because his birthday is neglected. Rich is a trooper and never complains. Hell, after 37 years, I'm sure he's used to it. But I just don't like how I feel. There has to be a way to make this work better. Any suggestions?
We had a great time trick-or-treating. Ella wore her "princess" and Nathaniel was a skunk. With the help of the most wonderful Andrea and my mom, I was able to make a cape for Ella. She looked so cute. (I'll try to post pictures this weekend.) My mother, the Halloween fanatic, had a magazine of quick and easy costume ideas and as soon as I saw the skunk I knew I had Nathaniel's number. Ella decided she wanted to be a skunk too while I was making Nat's costume. So I ended up making two. However, in the end, we had a princess. We thought for a little while that she would end up as a skunk princess (which would have been cute too). Anyway... we just went up and down our street. Carl and Nicole brought the girls over too. So the four kids went out and moms and dads went too. It was a lot of fun. Highlights: Lindsey slipped into the first two houses and Lauren commented that she didn't like a particular type of candy given at a house (while we were still there). She also picked through a bowl or two looking for the specific piece that she wanted. She's our zany gal! Ella wore about five lighted bracelets and would quietly say "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at every house. While she wasn't overly extroverted in this experience, I didn't really expect her to be and I was proud of how well she handled herself. She was a really good girl while we were out on the street. (She just became a bully when we got back home! Long story. Not too proud then. :o( But we're learning. She had to do some time on the naughty spot for pushing and trying to hit at Lindsey. It seemed to help at least a little. I think there was too mcuh for her tonight and poor Lindsey got the bad end of it.)
Back to Nathaniel, he's on his first round of antibiotics. At 9 months, we have the beginning of our first ear infection. They said we caught it early. Thank goodness. Poor little gut has had snot flowing from his nose ever since getting a cold about two weeks ago. I finally gave up on Monday and took him into the doc. It's an upper respiratory infection now and the ear infection. So Amoxicillin it is for us. And he loves it! Little piggy!
We leave for Phoenix on 11/12 because I'll become an aunt on the 8th. Yippee!!! Rich and I are very excited to be going and we've been pumping Ella up about it too. She's looking forward to flying on a plane. We posted a calendar on her bedroom door to countdown to the airplane days. She's such a sweetie (when she's not a beastie).
Anyway... a lot has happened. A lot is going to happening. And for now, that's all. I'm not going to use spell-check. I'm not going to proof this. Please forgive the errors. I'm off to bed. My love to you all!