Going back to work.....

It's official, I am going back to work April 6th. I will be working Tuesday - Friday until business picks up; I guess I am kinda hoping it doesn't so I can keep this schedule. If and when it does I will have to go Monday - Friday. Until then, I will be grateful for not having to put Antonio in daycare 1 more day. I really don't want him in daycare at all for so many reasons but we don't really have a choice at this point. I just fear he will not get the attention and love he does with me; in fact I know he won't. He tends to be high maintenance a lot and I worry that they will get tired of his whining and just let him whine. That thought breaks my heart. I guess he's been spoiled being home with me. But that is my job, to attend to his EVERY need. I know this daycare will to their best abilities but he won't be the only one there. I guess that is where only children get spoiled and grow to think it is all about them. Good thing my mom ran a daycare out of her home for awhile! ; )

We have found a daycare we like and it happens to be our neighbors! For those of you who have been to our house it is the neighbors that have the cow. They don't actually live there anymore and have turned there house into a daycare. Its great that they are just next door so when Albert gets home he will be able to go get Antonio instead of him having to wait for me to get off work and pick him up since we only have one car seat.

So I have a month to enjoy my time with Antonio then off to work I'll go. It will be the hardest thing I've done so far. The poor lady at the daycare as well, I'm sure Antonio will be a fussy, whiny mess at least for awhile after I go. I, on the other hand, will be an emotional mess probably all week! People say it will be good for both of us but I just LOVE being home with Antonio. It is so crazy hard some days but more often it is just as expected! I'm still hoping something (like the winning lotto ticket) will come along between now and then or even in the near future. We shall see. I am going to try my best to focus on enjoying my days with Antonio instead of stressing about that first day back.

"Try" is the key word.

wordless post....

sleep...HA! Only in my daydreams...

I love Antonio so much more than I ever thought possible and he could almost do no wrong but the boy isn't sleeping. I have always enjoyed my sleep so this is extra hard for me! Antonio was sleeping through the night for about a month when Albert and I decided I would take over the night waking since Albert was having to get up early to go to work and I wasn't. Besides, Antonio wasn't waking up so no big deal! Ha! About a week after the switch Antonio started waking up, but only once and usually went right back to sleep; still no big deal. Then he started waking more often and for longer periods of time. Now, and for the past couple weeks now, he's been waking, crying/screaming and then going back to sleep for about 20-30 min then waking and so on. This goes one from about 11-3am. I usually feed him around 2 and he acts hungry but that doesn't keep him asleep. At first I just assumed it was teething but if thats it will this continue for another year? I so hope not. I've also heard that when they learn new things they go over it in their head and that can keep them up. Regardless, I think he should be sleeping through. When I do go in to check on him he is usually on his belly and just needs to be turned back over and given his binky. Like I said though, its only good for about 30 min and starts all over again. I just don't know what to do. He usually takes a good (only 30-40 min.) morning nap then the afternoon ones are awful. He doesn't really nap unless on me and then he'll sleep good and long otherwise I can sometimes get him to nap in his swing but then only for about 30 min. He's tired because he rubs his eyes, yawns and gets fussy; all the signs are there then he just fights it and cries. I've tried putting him down and letting him cry but one time that lasted an hour and a half. Ugh.....I just don't know what to do..... Please just sleep my sweet boy...sleep....

Seven Months!

Another month has come and gone. Antonio has gotten much better at eating! We are eating stage 2 foods; to be honest, I am not really sure what the difference between 1 and 2 except the containers are bigger. We have gotten a good schedule down for his eating and it seems to work. It's nice to be able to plan around him eating since I know when it will be! He gets 3 7oz bottles in a 24 hour period and then eats solids for breakfast and dinner. I have started making his food since it is less expensive and pretty easy. I can make a bunch and freeze for up t0 3 months! I try to make some every Sunday to replenish the supply. So far so good!

He has mastered the army crawl and goes everywhere now! I have the feeling the actual crawling will start soon though. Once that happens we will invest in a gate, if not sooner. We went and got his flu shot, finally, yesterday and he did GREAT! He didn't even make a peep; even the nurse was surprised. He seemed to do fine afterwards but like last time he got shots, today was rough. He was pretty fussy all day so we gave him tylenol twice and I think it helped. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Antonio has been blowing "raspberries" in the air all the time lately. It is so cute! When he does, so much drool comes out! He is continuing to drool everywhere all the time! It is so bad that he has a pretty bad rash under his chin and neck where his wet bibs and shirt sit. Poor guy. It doesn't seem to bother him luckily. I try to change out his bibs frequently but keeping up with his drool is a full time job in itself! He also bangs everything on everything. Sometimes he'll bang the "thing" so hard he will frow up his eyebrows as if to say, "why so loud?". He also is starting to get upset if I take away or move a toy he is playing with. He is growing so fast and becoming an actual human being right before my eyes; it's amazing!

He is STILL not sleeping through the night; argh! He did for about 3 weeks then all of a sudden he stopped. Now if he does it seems to be a fluke. He will wake usually once or twice a night and just needs to be turned over or need his binky and then he falls right back to sleep thankfully. Then he usually wakes about 3 to eat. Some nights are harder where he will wake 4-5 times in an hour or two (usually between midnight and 2) and then stay down until later. I am not sure whats going on with that but it can stop any night now.

Going back to work has become stressful. I think we finally found a daycare, right next door!!! The gal doesn't live there anymore and has turned her house into a daycare! It will be so convenient for us considering we only have 1 car seat! I can take him when I go to work and Albert can pick him up when he gets home which means less time Antonio is in daycare! I am still planning on meeting with one other lady tomorrow morning but unless she is AMAZING, we will go with our next door neighbor!

As far as the actual "work" part for me; I am still not sure what is going on with that. I only want to go back part time, say 3 days a week but since my employer deals with a lot of seasonal items they will need me to be full time in a couple months. Happily, my boss is somewhat working with me on trying to figure something out. We still haven't found something that works for both of us yet but soon I hope. I'd really like to stay there. I have been looking for other jobs and have applied for a few but no bites yet. I am trusting all will work out but the fact of not knowing is really stressing me out. At the earliest, I would go back to work (to my current job) mid March but possibly not until April, depending on business and what we work out. So please pray all works out for us. I really, really do NOT want to put Antonio is daycare but if need be I want him to be there as little as possible!

Below are a few pictures and a short video of Antonio in one of his jumpers! He loves it! He has pretty much out grown it already considering he is flat footed in it but I just cant bare to get rid of it yet!

Happy Valentines Day!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

army crawl and more!

Yup, it's official, Antonio's a mover! He has just learned to "army crawl"! For those of you who don't know what that is, it is where he scoots on his belly by using his arms and legs. He pulls forward with his arms as he pushes with his legs; all while he is flat on the floor. You know, like the guys in the army do to stay low to the ground. ; ) Well he is close to mastering this skill! He started this last weekend and when I mentioned it in the class we go to that he's only done it once or twice and only for an electronic (clearly his daddy's boy!), he then proceeded to do it all over the mat in class! He chased this poor little girl all around. She used to be the only mover in class (she is 8.5 months and crawls everywhere) and so he gave her a run for her money! She wasn't to sure she liked it though! ; )

Also, this morning Antonio has cut his first teeth, yes, teeth! He has his two bottom teeth both coming through at the same time! Poor little guy! He wasn't to fussy yesterday or today, however yesterday he was a bit more snuggly and wanted his binky a lot more than usual so I was afraid he was getting sick. Thank goodness its just teeth!

We bought him a booster seat that we can attach to one of our chairs for him to eat on. Highchairs are so much money, more than we can/want to spend on one. Maybe soon we'll get one but for now the booster seat works great, so much better than his swing! ; ) He seems to like it too! He looks like such a big boy in it! When we eat he sits up at the table with us. He is so good, he just sits there and watches us eat; it's cute!

Look! I'm a big boy!

He is loving eating and eats a ton! At least it seems like it! He loves sweet potatoes, pears, prunes and our newest find, prunes and apples mixed together. He does NOT like carrots or rice cereal but seems to really like oatmeal when mixed with green beans, weird. Everything else he seems to like too. So I have mixed a lot of things with oatmeal and he loves it! He will usually eat 1-2 tablespoons of oatmeal mixture as well as a full small jar of something else for breakfast and dinner. For lunch I've decided to just go with a bottle since we are sometimes out then.

mmm.....green beans!