Preston Update

Preston had his 6-month doctor's appointment yesterday. He now weighs 13 lbs, 14 oz! He's about 24 1/2 inches long-- so both of those measurements put him in the 1.55% for his age. Still my tiny peanut, but the doctor is not worried since he's staying at that curve and gaining weight. His head circumference, however, is in the 25% (can't remember the exact measurement)-- that's just his big brain :). We're so happy that he's staying on the charts, albeit on the lowest end possible...

He has really been liking his fruits and veggies, too. Even though he's only 6 months old, he's had quite a few different things, since we are trying to keep the weight on him, and milk alone wasn't doing it. He's had: peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, applesauce, peaches, pears, prunes, and little bit of my refried beans the other night... that was a treat ;)

Let's see, what else... Oh, his feet can touch the ground now in his jumper, so we don't have to use the textbook anymore. He has the sweetest blonde hair, and is no longer my little baldie. He's going crazy with the teething-- you can see two little buggers down there, just ready to pop out. He does what we call "armless crawling," where he will get super excited to try and get something in front of him, but he can't quite get his arms going. So he'll flail his legs, bury his head in the blanket/crib/floor and push himself forward just using his legs. Hey, whatever works Buddy! He's a charmer-- I had him out shopping with me yesterday, and all the ladies LOVED him, especially those big baby blues. He's almost too big for his bouncy chair, indicated by the fact that he now tries to pull his toys off of the bar and fling himself forward on it. He's also almost too big for his Bumbo, indicated by the arching of the back, and almost tipping it backwards. I think it's about time for his high chair, now that we have room for it! He can also sit up all by himself for quite a bit of time, and he loves his piggies :)

That's all for now...

5/5/10

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost. The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day. The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Tired!

Weekend in review:

Friday I finished a slightly more stressful week than normal, so it was nice to be done. I ran home quick, just in time for the DirecTV guy to be finishing up installing our stuff. We have to go with satellite since AT&T isn't available in our new area, and everyone else is sucky... Anyways, I grabbed some fried chicken at the grocery store, then went to the old place to meet Skip and get the last of our stuff. It was sad leaving the place-- I totally started crying as soon as I took my key off my keychain. However, it will be good to be done with two houses, and really get cracking on the new one.

After we said goodbye to 64th Street, Preston and I picked up Cassandra so she could accompany us to Sams (and Aldi). We needed to do some major stocking of the shelves and refrigerator! It was a very rainy evening of shopping, and I almost had a heart attack when I saw my total at Sams... but I figure I won't need to stock up and that stuff for quiiiite a while, so it was okay. It was a nice evening, though.

Saturday morning I got up and vegged with Preston for a little while-- watched TV for the first time in a week! I started putzing around the house, then when Skip got up we all went to Hobo and Menards. We got things to do Preston's door, the floor of the porch, and other various home-improvement thingys. It was such a beautiful day outside! We got back to the house and I worked on the kitchen and Preston's room while Skip worked on the door. Hmm... I honestly can't remember what we did for dinner or for the rest of the evening. Nothing big. Skip went to work.

On Sunday when Skip got home from work, we went down to Racine to return Mannings' truck. We visited with Mary and Charlie for a little while, then came home. I dropped Skip off then went to run some errands. I came back home to bathe Preston and get him ready for his pictures, then we headed back out. I thought there was a JC Penny at Mayfair Mall, which there is not (duh), so we left that mall (after going all the way in... urgh), and went out to Brookfield. Okay-- I know there's a Sears there. We checked in for pics, but there was a wait, so I did some shopping for curtains-- then came back for pics. Preston was an absolute DOLL at his pictures. He was too cute :) See below for pics. We wandered the mall for a little bit while we waited for the pics, including a couple stores, and a little rest/"boobage" in the furniture department of JCPenny :) Those recliners are comfortable, and no one even walked by! I will remember that the next time I'm there! I had unfortunately forgotten any of my longer-trip carriers, so I had Preston on my hip in my pouch sling all afternoon. Nooot a good idea, as my back is really sore today. Those are just no good for long trips. But I got exercise, so that's okay.

Preston had a rough night last night, and didn't sleep much. Those teeth are really wreaking havoc on my poor little guy... I can see them through his gums, so they will cut any day now... any day now... Let mommy and daddy sleep now...

Work

It's getting harder and harder to come into work these days, for a couple of reasons. First and foremost: I hate leaving Preston. I know I am leaving him in the perfectly capable hands of his daddy or our babysitter, but I still would love to be able to spend more days with him, besides just the weekends. Second: It's taking ALL I have to be able to focus on work while I'm at work (as I write this, sitting at my desk...). There are too many other things going through my mind during the day. Sitting in front of a computer with the fastest internet ever doesn't help.

I wish I could just work part-time. I still like my job (when there are interesting projects going on, and the bureaucracy doesn't impede things), it's just that I could do it in a heck of a lot less than 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. However, MCW only offers health insurance to full-time employees... and it's the best health insurance we could ever ask for. So that's why I work full-time, and Skip works part-time.

I learned a couple of weeks ago that MCW will begin offering health insurance (and the other benefits) to part-time employees, as of around 2014, because of all the other changes to the healthcare system in the U.S. MCW needs to offer that in order to compete with the state/federal plans that will be implemented-- offer good insurance, keep more people employed. For those of you who do not support the changes to our healthcare system, think of people like me. Because of the changes, I will be able to stay home a little more often with my child (and any subsequent children that may come along), while still being able to care for my family financially and medically. It is a blessing. My coworkers were all complaining that our premiums will be going up because of this, but I just kept my mouth shut. I couldn't stop thinking of how happy I am that I will still be able to make use of the education I paid for, while also being able to be a happier mother and wife at home. If I have to pay a little bit more into it to get the benefits, so be it. I will be a hell of a lot happier than I am now.

Moved in, almost moved out (long...)

Woof. Big moving weekend over!

Thursday: I woke up and took Preston over to Cassandra's, and I headed out to get my hair cut and a pedicure. I wanted to use a couple of gift certificates, and knew I wouldn't get out there if I didn't go when I did. So that was really a nice morning for me! I came back to 'Tosa and picked up Preston, ran home and changed quick, then met my mom over at the new house. She already had the leaf blower out and was clearing off our patio-- she was ready to go! I unpacked a load of stuff I had brought over, and by that point Sarah and the girls were there. We putzed around doing a few more things, then met Andy over at Fridays at Miller Park for dinner. Preston sat like a big boy in a high chair all by himself for the first time! He did so well :). After dinner my mom came back over to the old place to help me "assess" what needed to get done during the move, then she went home. I worked on a few things, then crashed. It was a pretty uneventful last night in our little house. :(

Friday: Another early rising so that I could get Preston to Cassandra and then get a few more things done before the movers came. They got there by 8:30, and started right away getting things into the truck. It was a crazy, emotional couple of hours packing that place up. I'm not going to lie that I'm a little sad leaving there, and carrying boxes and boxes of things out was kind of hard. Don't get me wrong, I know it's time to move on, and I'm excited to be in the new place, and for all of the new memories we'll make there. However, it's sad leaving the place we brought our first baby home to. That house was "our" first place, and we have some wonderful memories from there. So, needless to say, a few tears were shed throughout the morning.

We got most of the things packed up, and then I headed to the new place to meet the movers. They moved pretty quickly getting things in, and we helped make the process a bit faster, since we were paying them by the hour... Everything pretty much went in without a hitch... except for our couch. Wah. One of the parts of the sectional totally doesn't fit into the house. Sooo, we will be in the market for a couple of new sofas. Fortunately we have another small couch in the living room for now, plus the smaller of the sectional parts, which will do until we get something new. We were done with moving at that point for the day, so I went to pick up Preston (it was only like 1:30-- not too bad). We hung around the place for a little while, then I got ready and met my mom over at her hotel to drop Preston off-- his first night away, so that Skip and I could go to the Brewers game with the Meshenkys. We cooked out back at the new house, then walked over to Miller Park. How convenient this will be for games! We all had a great time at the game, and stopped at Kelly's Bleachers for a drink afterwards. It was a late night, but we all had fun.

Saturday: I got up and went over to the hotel for breakfast with my mom, and to get Preston. He did really well with my mom overnight, so that was good to hear. Mom came back over to the new place behind us, and we were there for a little while just assessing what to do. It was a little bit crazy with stuff everywhere. As we were getting ready to leave to the old place, my mother-in-law got there-- so we had her cleaning up the kitchen while we worked at the old house. I ended up staying over at the old place for most of the afternoon, while pretty much everyone else worked at the new place (Harrisons were there by that point). Skip ran loads back and forth. I left the old place around 3 (I think), and when I got back to the new place my livingroom was set up! Ah, gotta love familial manual labor... :)

Nancy, Jim and Grandma came up that evening, and we showed them the house then we all went to dinner. We had a really nice meal at Fiesta Garibaldi (walked to dinner!), then came back, had dessert, and crashed. We were all so exhausted.

Sunday: We slept in a little bit, then started putzing. We didn't do too much besides cleaning up. Skip made a trip to the old place while I got ready then went to Target for some essentials. When I got back, the fam came back over and we cooked out lunch on the grill. Skip, Preston, me, Sarah, Andy and Megan all went to the Brewers game at that point. We had a great time, and the babies did so well for their first game! They were the stars of the show. Since the Cubs were kicking the Brewers to death, we left at the top of the 9th, just to beat the crowd with the babies. We hitched a ride on the Kelly's Bleachers shuttle... then got back to the house and cooked out some more for dinner with the fam again. Everyone was still pretty tired, so they all left, and it was 8:51 when we crawled into bed. What an exhausting/exciting/emotional/productive weekend!

Oh, but I left my shoes all over at the old place, so I had to swing by there this morning on my way to work. Oops. :)

House 4/21/10

I think I am going to start keeping track of our house updates/work through my blog. I hope that whoever reads this (the 2 or 3 of you... :)) don't mind!

So, first update: We got the house! We had a few snags in regards to our loan that came up on Friday, so our weekend was a little stressful. We weren't sure until about noon on Monday that we were for sure going to close... at 4 on Monday. Nothing like waiting 'til the last minute, huh? Anyways, all went smoothly at the closing, and we are now homeowners! Skip and I went for a drink after the closing, to celebrate, then went and got the lil man from Cassandra to go over to the new place. It was so nice to be in there ourselves without having to have the realtor there! And, it was a nice bonus that the sellers said we can keep the really cute bench that is on the front porch-- it fits perfectly there, so we were definitely willing to oblige!

Skip brought a few things over there yesterday, and I brought a few more things last night. We have movers coming on Friday to do the majority of everything, but we figured we could get some things over there anyways. We sprung for the professional help, since it's a bit harder to get extra hands with all the new little babies/kids in our lives these days-- especially our own! I have a feeling Preston will be spending quite a bit of time wrapped up papoose-style on my back in the coming months so that I have my hands free!

My first job was to pull up the old, ugly carpet that inhabited the porch on the back of the house. We are so excited to use that porch this summer, but the carpet had to go (brown shag! yuck!). I was happy to find that it was only tacked down on the edges, so it was easy to pull up. Also, the padding that was underneath it was only stapled in 3 rows, so I won't have to be pulling up a bajillion staples, either. I plan to finish getting the staples up, then will get some insulation sheets and osb, then lay down vinyl tile on the floor. Shouldn't be too hard, but it'll be our first project so it might take a little time. I may be utilizing a circular saw for the first time since building a cardboard boat back in junior high (that's another story!)...

I will take pictures of everything as we improve stuff. I'm so excited for all the things we get to do to this place!

As for the little man, he is doing great. He's on 3 small meals of fruits or veggies a day, in addition to his milk/formula, of course. So far, we've tried sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans, bananas, prunes, and today we're trying pears! He LOVES his food, so this is a good thing. And I think he's keeping his weight up. I haven't weighed him in a while, but he feels nice and solid to me. Well, still teeny, but solid! :)

Observations

As I've posted before, I always have interesting observations while driving to work in the morning. Now that I have been dropping Preston off at the babysitter's house here and there, I take a slightly different route that allows for even more interesting things:

• I saw a junior high kid walking down the sidewalk rolling what looked to be a trombone on a dolly. Wuss. I had to carry a friggin TUBA at least 3 blocks to school when I was in junior high. And if you knew me back then, you'd know that a.) I was tiny, and b.) the tuba seemed ginormous and only had one small strap-- no backpack style gig bag like I am blessed with now. That trombone kid needs a lesson from 12-year-old Ellen. (Or Pregnant Ellen. Even when I was 9 months along, I was still strapping the darn thing to my back. That was funny...)
• Our coffee from home seems so much better than the stuff at work. Even though it was a day old, iced, and Hills Brothers beans, it still tastes better and stronger than the freshly-brewed ground Starbucks we have at our office. Hmm.
• 'Tosa fire trucks are intimidating, and their lights are SUPER bright. One must have gotten a call while sitting at a light opposite to me this a.m., because it flicked on the lights and sirens. Those things are like semis. Makes the little Meda-Care vans look like Smart Cars compared to 'Tosa rigs.
• I swear the whole world (i.e. everyone driving in the morning) is trying to escape a damn fire, they drive so fast. I have a total lead foot, but I'm seriously like a granny compared to some of the people out on the roads in 'Tosa in the morning. It's nuts.

I'm so glad to be getting off of work early today. Skip has to work, so I will be taking off a bit early to be with the little man. I'm so excited, because it's such a gorgeous day out. Who cares that I have to take a couple hours of personal time. It's worth it to spend time with my favorite little boy. :)

Update 4/2

Preston's gaining weight, finally!! We started him on cereal after finding out that he had dropped off the growth percentile charts, and in just over one week he gained a whole pound! His cheeks are becoming nice and chubby these days :). He's also been sleeping a lot better, so I think we've got some things figured out with him, at least for now! We've also noticed his little personality is really starting to shine through. He's SUCH a happy baby, and so observant of the world around him. His big eyes just take everything in. He's definitely got his daddy's loud voice and boisterous personality, that we've learned through his squealing... However, I think he's got a bit of his mommy's caution and cynicism-- you can see it in his eyebrows. Exactly like mine >:) We've also gotten a taste of how he's going to handle the hotter weather. He's been a little uncomfortable with the heat, so I think he's just going to spend the summer in a diaper. Fine with me! Here's a video of Preston in his jumper, having a grand-old time (he's not naked, just in a diaper!):



Things are coming along with our house purchase. We found out that there is some settling in the foundation, which we weren't surprised at, since the house is 85 years old. However, that means there are some repairs and reinforcements that need to be done on the basement, which is going to cost some $$. We've worked it out that the sellers are actually going to pay for it. We're very fortunate, since it's not something we were necessarily prepared to pay for, so we're lucky. Plus, I think the sellers are just ready to get rid of the place, so they'll do whatever it takes to sell it.

I had a weird dream last night about the house. We had bought a place that was a bit of a fixer-upper, and our families were worried that we were getting in over our heads. We went to show them the place, and while I was outside taking pictures, I thought to myself: "I didn't think those upstairs windows were so dingy and burned out?" And I realized: the house is on fire! It proceeded to burn to the ground, right before our eyes. Skip and I were devastated, but all of our families were like, "oh, well, it's probably for the best." So I go to show pictures of the house to friends, and everyone says it's super cute. Then, I show them one pic of the outside "before" then one "after" and I say "It burned down!!!" That was the end of that dream. I think I need to go drive by the place today to make sure it's still there!

Long week/end, long post!

It has been a crazy whirlwind of a week and weekend, I can tell you that much. I'll start with last weekend:

We began searching for a house to buy. This has only come into play so quickly because we realized we're running out of time to take advantage of the 1st time homebuyers credit, so we're running head-first into the home search. We looked at 4 different places on Saturday the 6th, and decided none of them were for us (for various reasons). It was a little stressful because we were trying to figure out exactly what we wanted, what we could compromise on, and what price range ultimately was realistic for us. We narrowed most of that down by the end of the day after looking at the different places-- so we were ready to see more. On Sunday, we went to see a house that had literally JUST listed on the market. Well, we really liked it. So, we went home Sunday night, just to sleep on it, and had an appointment for the next day already set up to go write an offer. I get a phone call the next morning, and it turns out that the sellers accepted an offer that evening. Dang! We had become really frustrated by that point, because of the few houses we'd been seriously interested in, most or all were getting accepted offers SO fast. We responded by immediately scheduling a bunch of showings, just so that we could get what we wanted before someone else yanked it from us.

Enter Preston's sleeping. Or lack thereof... He decided at the beginning of the week that he would only sleep for no more than 2 hours at a time all day-- and night. So we began the week tired, and I was getting sick. Skip was tired because he had to work his shift 3 days of the week, too. So we basically started the week on fumes.

Along comes Wednesday. We went after work to see 3 places. Ugh. Skip liked one, I liked another, neither of us liked the 3rd. So none of those were a go. We came home tired, and knew we would still be so because we were worried about Preston's sleeping issues. Anyways, while perusing the Shorewest website that night, I came across one house that I had seen a couple times, but wasn't sure about. So I emailed our realtor the next day, and we were scheduled to see it. It turns out, we really liked it:

The neighborhood is great: just a street away from the neighborhood “Story Hill,” which is Miller Park neighborhood. If you look on a map, we’re about ¼ mile from the ballpark, and could easily walk to games. We’re also close to some bars that fans like to go to, so it’s going to be busy on game days. But it’s a diverse enough neighborhood, and quiet otherwise. Plus, Skip gets a significant stipend from Aurora (the hospital system he works for) for buying a home within Milwaukee city limits. We could use that $$!

The yard is fenced in already, and quite deep for a city lot, so it will be perfect for the Scotchmaster.

The house itself needs some desperate cosmetic work on the 2nd floor (pink wallpaper, ugly brown shag carpeting on the WALLS of the staircase, flimsy doors, a couple other things). However, it already has a full bathroom up there, plus the one downstairs. And overall, the structural makeup of the house is great, and we can live in the 1st floor (where there are 2 bedrooms) while we’re working on the 2nd floor. The back bedroom of the house will be ours temporarily, and there is a sliding door from it out to an enclosed porch. We’re looking forward to enjoying that in the summer/fall! Eventually we will make that room an office/guest room, so that we’re not having to traipse through our bedroom to get to the porch. We’ll update the kitchen, too, maybe before we move in. The basement is good-sized, and Skip and I are both happy because I can have my rec room and storage, and he (and his band) can build their recording studio… That will be interesting…

We really lucked out on the price of the place, more than anything. It’s an estate, so the people were ready to get rid of it. I guess it had been listed with another realty company for quite some time, with no bites. The older couple who own it (I’m guessing brother/sister of the previous owners) apparently cried when we offered—they were so thrilled to have interest in it. With what we’re saving on purchase price, we’ll be able to put into updates.

So, we close on April 19th, then we move! Our lives will be hectic until then (and for some time after), but we're excited to be able to have a place of our own!

In the meantime, however, we need to get our little boy figured out :(. He has not slept for more than 2 hours at a time for at least 5 nights. That is taking it's toll on all of us! We were worried he had an ear infection, so we took him to urgent care yesterday. Turns out he's totally fine... except for his weight. He's lost 5 ounces since his doctor's appointment on the 4th. And his appetite hasn't changed; in fact, we started cereal so he's actually gotten MORE to eat lately. Aside from the weight loss, Preston is a perfectly healthy little guy, and doing all of the things an almost-5-month-old should be doing. So he has an appointment again with his doc tomorrow, and hopefully we'll get some things straightened out. I'll post again when we get an update on what's up with this tiny little man!

~4 Months~

I can't believe it was more than 4 months ago that Preston was born! This has BY FAR been the fastest-moving part of my life, EVER. But it has also been the best!!

We took Preston for his 4-month doctor appointment yesterday. We have been so happy lately because he has started to roll over, and also constantly loves to "stand." He's also babbling and giggling like crazy! I'm a little worried I'm going to have that tiny spit-fire kid... but we shall see. The doctor weighed and measured him: he is 24 inches long, his head is 16.1 cm (this is from the paper we got, but that does not seem right... I thought the nurse said 41 cm- I have no idea), so I think that is all still around the 10-20% range for kids his age. However, his weight is only still 11 lbs 8 oz! (We had weighed him on Sarah and Andy's scale the last time, so it could have been off) He is so scrawny! Compared to his younger cousins who are already each over a pound heavier than him, he is definitely the tiny one still. His doctor isn't too worried, since all of his other development is perfectly on track, but he has dropped essentially off of the growth percentile chart in terms of his weight. So, she said that it might be a good idea to start him on rice cereal to get him to put on a few extra ounces, or even a pound or two. I was hoping to keep him exclusively on breast milk until 6 months when we would start actual solids, but I'm okay with adding a little extra sustenance to his diet now. So that will start this evening, and we'll see how he does. I think he's ready for it, though, because he's constantly chewing on his tongue, drooling, and he's always SO alert when we're eating-- so I think he's really picking up on the cues. Which is good, since food and eating are such a huge part of our family's social life! The doctor also told us she wasn't worried about his skin issues, and since it doesn't seem to be bothering him, to just keep a close watch on it. So that was good.

He got a few of his shots (we've modified our schedule a little since my earlier posts, but we're quite happy with how it's going to work out). He was okay with the first one, but the other two made him pretty mad-- he cried so hard and his face got so red! Then the MA didn't quite put his band-aid on right, so he totally bled all over my shirt. Poor little guy! I managed to calm him down by nursing him for a little while right after the shots, but he was still a little crabby last night. It also didn't help that I conked his head as I was walking through his doorway to go change his diaper. Oh my god he was so mad at me. TOTAL real tears. It almost made ME cry! We snuggled last night and this morning to make up for all the trauma yesterday... :) So that's the update with the little man!

On other fronts, Skip has been officially released from orientation and can begin working 100% on his own. He's definitely ready! I'm so proud of all that he's accomplished, and I know he will be a wonderful nurse. My job is the same, but a few things are changing in terms of working more on my own, so that's good. I still would rather be home more, but for now...

Oh, and we've begun the ever-stressful (but exciting!) search to become homeowners. I'll update more on that as it develops! All I can say now is that I wish taxes in Wauwatosa weren't so high!