Another Christmas

Not really sure I have a lot to write about at this moment, but I have a little insomnia so I thought I'd throw a few pictures up of our most recent Christmas. Yes, we had more than one. JR's family came up this past weekend so we could exchange. It was a really great time (and the 2nd time I got to host a holiday!) The kids made out like bandits again. JR got a Keurig coffee maker that he is in love with, and my new sister in law and I are going to see The Lion King!! I'm so excited.

Here are those pictures I was talking about.

Aaron's a little happy!

Ben was very excited to see that there were more presents under the tree when he woke up.

Catchin' Up

Finally! I have a minute to sit down and record a few moments of the last few months. Of course,it's because I have insomnia and it's 3:30 AM! Oh well.

So yes, my computer had a virus, and thought it was taken care of. Then shortly before Thanksgiving I was having problems again. It ended up that I really couldn't use it, so I bought a new one right after Christmas. It has a webcam, which I haven't tried out yet. I'm excited to try out Skype and be able to talk to my mom and have her see the kids. That's one big reason I haven't been able to blog. So here are the highlights of the last few months....

* Aaron was Dedicated back in October. My mom and Ron came down, and J.R.'s family came up as well. We had a small party afterwards with some friends from church.

* While my parents were here we went to Boo at the Zoo. Ben also wore his costume at school, and we went trick or treating for the first time! Aaron was a monkey and Ben was Thomas the Train.

* Thanksgiving was spent at the beach. The weekend before, J.R.'s brother was married so J.R. and Aaron spent the week, while Ben and I came back up for school/work. We went to see Santa, but the kids were both had double ear infections so we didn't do the tram ride to see the lights.

* Aaron had a checkup after Thanksgiving. The doctor couldn't believe how great he was doing. He pretty much wanted to stand right after he learned to sit. Now he's crawling up a storm, cruising and just starting to stand on his own. He thought he'd walk before he'd crawl, but he'll still only take 2-3 steps when you hold his hands and let him walk.

* Ben loved the Christmas lights. On our way home from work I would point out houses to look at. On our way home from Life Group we would drive up and down a few streets so he could see all the "eyes".

* J.R. had his Gallbladder removed in Dec. We had previously made two trips to the ER, and he recovered for 2-3 weeks. He was sick for a while, but now he is doing great.

* We went to Mass for Christmas. Santa was very good to the boys, and to J.R. and I. We barely had enough room for all our new things. My dad and Kathy came down as well, so we got to see them too. It's the first time Kathy has seen Ben since last summer, and the first time she's seen Aaron. My dad had come to visit us when we went up in June. It was great to see them. We came back to Philly for New Year's, and on New Year's Day, we went to the Mummer's Parade. Ben was a little overwhelmed, I think, and Aaron was just really cold. We stayed only long enough to say we went.

* Ben has a Race Car Bed now! He loves it. The first night we set it up he slept all night in it. He hasn't really since, but he will either start off in it, or after I read books to him, we'll go in there to sleep. So, he's no longer falling asleep in our bed. If he wakes up, I'll take him into my bed, then move him (when I can, sometimes he just doesn't sleep heavily enough) back. One thing at a time, I guess.

* Aaron is still a great sleeper, but once in a while, he'll wake up. And when he does, he's up. The hard thing about the boys sleeping in the same room is that we are afraid one will wake up the other.

* Aaron is eating great. He's more of a fan of oatmeal cereal than rice, and loves squash. He's also eating sweet potatoes, peas, and green beans and we are finally introducing bananas, apples and pears a little more. We've been making all the veggies and bananas ourselves. He's also eating small cooked carrots, peas and puffs as finger foods.

* Ben is at day care only 2 day a week now. J.R.'s unemployment ran out, and now his latest extension is a bit different and he's not getting paid as regularly. Things are really tight and a huge stress, but it's working out so far. God isn't going to let us down.

* The in-laws are coming this weekend so we can do Christmas with them. J.R. and I are both excited. We all swapped names for a gift exchange with his parents and Steve and Kim, so everyone, including Kyle, will be here. Our tree looks like it needs to be recycled back to nature, but we are willing it to live for just a few more days!

* I've been made chair of the Staff Development Team at work. I'm very excited. I thought it would be an easy thing since I'm really interested in it, but it's a bit more challenging than I thought. Not in a bad way though. It's a good challenge that will help me to grow professionally as well. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to do this. We've put on one program so far, and Thursday is the big annual January workshop that is mandatory for all staff. I pray it goes well.

I think those are some of the highlights. Hopefully I can get on here a bit more often now!

Things to celebrate, and things not to celebrate

So, I've been wanting to blog for at least two weeks now, but I just haven't been able to. First, my computer has had a virus so I didn't want to infect anything. Second, J.R. has been sick, so I've been trying to take care of him, and the boys, and the house all with a busy schedule. I'm a mom, that's how it goes.

Not Going Down Without a Fight

So, the week we moved, we started Aaron on formula. As sad as it makes me, I am happy that I was able to supply all breast milk for him for 5 months (with Ben, I started supplementing at 3 months; when I went back to work). For that, I am thankful. Unfortunately, as soon as we started formula, I dried up quick!! It was a matter of weeks before we was formula all day. I'm really, really disappointed. I think I'm just very stressed out right now - I'm super busy at work and I was missing my daily appointments to pump. I reduced my appointments to two a day because I was feeling awful when I'd pump and get 2 oz. At least twice a day it seemed like I was getting a little more. Moving was a stress (although J.R. definitely had the brunt of it) and I'm stressed about finances as our rent is now higher, and J.R.'s unemployment runs out very soon. Stress reeks havoc on my body, so I think that was a big part of it.



However, I'm not going down without a fight. Two Fridays ago, Aaron was up twice overnight. I nursed him the first time he got up, and just knew that was going to be the last time. It was very sad for me, but at the same time, I felt OK. Then Sunday we were out, and he was hungry, so I tried to nurse him to see if that would calm him while the bottle warmed. He seemed OK. Monday I went pumpless to work. Tuesday morning I woke up and my t-shirt was a little wet on one side, then I saw a drop of milk on the other side after my shower. I took my pump to work and got 4.5 oz!! I was thrilled - literally dancing! That was the last time I pumped, which I have to say, does not make me sad. Since then, I have nursed Aaron three times. I'm not sure how much he got, but at least once, he had milk dripping down his cheek, and two nights ago he almost fell asleep. So, he is at least getting enough to hold him over until a bottle warms. This makes me happy!



Again, I'm happy I went all breast milk for 5 months, but I'm disappointed it took only weeks to go all formula. There were many days at the beginning I thought of how it would be so much simpler to not breastfeed. I was tired in the middle of the night and wanted help. I was sore and felt like I couldn't do anything else. I knew I just had to work through it. I did, and now, I'll miss it so much.



We started rice cereal over the weekend. He's not a huge fan, but we'll work on it. On the bright side...he's sleeping through the night!

We moved!

We did it, we offically moved into our new apartment. We didn't move too far away; we are only two miles from our old place. This apartment is bigger. We are in a complex, which I'm ok with. I've lived in complexes before, and they are nice. There are several perks. One being maintenance! I don't have to call the landlord and not have him show up. In this place, they'll actually respond. There is a gym and a lending library also. There is a swimming pool, but we have to pay for it. We probably won't because the Philadelphia swimming pools are free, so we will just go there. There is a nice one pretty close to us.

As for the apartment, the kitchen is small, but there is room to move around and there is plenty of cabinet space. Ben seems to approve of the space.

The living room/dining room area is much, much larger. There is lots of room for the kids' toys. The 2nd bedroom is bigger than the old nursery. We can fit Aaron and Ben in there. Our bedroom is a little smaller, but there is still plenty of room, and I get to keep my scrapbook area! The closet space here is unbelievable. That is one thing we definitely didn't have in the old place. We have a storage locker, but I have so much stuff to store, we are quickly running out of space. Parking is decent, even late at night. We can hear some traffic from the main road we live on, but it's not to bad. It gets loud when the windows are open, so I can't leave the kids' window open when they are trying to sleep.

We are so blessed to have the friends we do who helped us move. We were able to get the keys to the new place on Sept. 16 and we didn't end our old lease until Sept. 30. It was nice to have two weeks to move. We spent almost every night moving over a carload of stuff at a time. On the 19th, our friends Jerry and Sharon drove up from Maryland with a box trailer and grabbed all our big furniture and everything we had boxed up to that point. My friend Pete from work came over that day too, so we had some hands helping lift and move and keep two kids occupied. Then a former student came over one night, and current student came over on her day off, and watched the boys so that we could bring some more stuff over and unpack. Then the weekend of the 25th, J.R.'s parents came up and took the boys all day Saturday and by the end of the weekend, everything was out of the old place and into the new.

We still have tubs to unpack and things to put away. I'm sure it'll take us a while to get completely settled in. Mostly the stuff to put away now are the things that we just don't know what to do with yet. Although there is a lot of closet space, things are just laid out differently so it's hard to find room for some things. We also lost the desk and the paper stand, so J.R.'s computer is on an old night stand in the living room and the printer is on top of the entertainment center.

We have a lot of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I've done three yard sales and I'm doing another one in two weeks. For a packrat (I prefer to call myself sentimental) I'm doing very well at getting rid of stuff. I've sent quite a bit to Salvation Army as well. I want to go through my holiday decorations and the toys to see if there is anything to get rid of at the next yard sale. Among other things, I also have all the baby clothes that are too small for Aaron...which by the way, means anything under 6-9 months! I'm even selling some scrapbook stuff. See, I am doing good!

A friend asked tonight if I missed the old place and without hesitation, I said NO! We are adjusting well. I love the space, it's clean, there are no mice and it feels so good to be out of the bedroom! We are enjoying actually being in the living room each night! We ate dinner at our kitchen table once! Since then, it's been covered up by stuff, but we've been doing some cleaning so we can see most of the table top again. I'm sure by the end of the week we'll be eating there as a family again.

August/September updates

So, it's not so much that I've been too busy to blog (although I really don't have any free time), it's more like I don't have much to blog about. There is nothing going on that is all that exciting. Here is all I can think of:

I ended my 13 weeks of maternity leave with a week of jury duty. I really thought I wouldn't get picked. I figured, what judge and lawyers would want me on their jury. I'm a nursing mom and would need to leave the courtroom every 2 hours to pump. Well, the judge apparently didn't see that as a hardship, and I did tell him that as long as I could pump during a morning break, lunch break and afternoon break, I'd be OK. We started late most mornings and obviously got a lunch every day. Whenever he thought about breaking in the afternoon, he'd look over at me and ask, out loud mind you, if I was OK or if I needed a break. So, everything worked out for me. It was a joke one day as we came back from our lunch break late. A few other jurors were afraid we wouldn't get an afternoon break so I told them to signal me if they needed to go to the bathroom and I'd get the attention of the court crier. The signal...they imitated milking a cow then grabbed their boobs. So funny - it made me laugh out loud. Fortunately, it was a much more casual courtroom than I expected. We found the defendant guilty, and I'm waiting to hear what his jail sentence is.

With that, Aaron and I are doing well with the breastfeeding thing. He is taking a bottle for daddy great everyday while they are home together. I feed him from the breast for every other feeding, except occasional times if we are out and I know it would be a little difficult to feed him myself. So far, all breast milk, no formula! Woo hoo! I have a feeling that is going to end soon, but somehow we keep getting through another day! I'm really happy that we've gone this far. With Ben, I started supplementing at 3 months, when I went back to work. It helped this time, that I started pumping early and began a frozen backup. If I could get to 6 months with no formula - wow! That'd be awesome!

Work has been going well. I actually enjoy going because it gets me out of the house. I absolutely adore my kids and miss them when I'm not with them, but I really have no free time (as mentioned) so working almost feels like my free time.

Ben moved up to the next room at daycare. He moved up early. We were concerned because there have been several teacher changes at school, not to mention the change at home of having a baby, and now this is another change. We wanted to make sure he wasn't being moved up because they just needed room in his old room. They said he is ready for the new room. There are kids there that he already knows that were moved up previously, and four other kids moved up with him. He's doing great with potty training at school, and they think his communication skills are good, but will improve because there will be older kids that speak well, and he'll learn from them. J.R. and I have both had conversations with the new teachers and checked out the new room. Ben really likes it. There is a bucket of cars, so of course, he heads to that first thing every day. There are dinosaurs to play with, a construction corner, a book corner and there is a computer that they are going to let him play around with too. They are also going to teach him another language. I'm sure it won't be anything he'll be fluent in, I'm thinking more like teaching him hello, 1 2 3, etc. After all, he isn't even fluent in English yet!

Aaron gave us a scare a few weeks ago. He had a fever and a rash so J.R. took him to the Dr's. While there, Aaron started screaming and wouldn't stop. The Dr. wanted blood work so J.R. took him to CHOP because the blood work results would come back immediately. Apparently, fever, rash and screaming can equal meningitis. Fortunately, J.R. fed Aaron and he calmed down, and CHOP didn't need to take blood work. It's just a rash that they commonly see in the summertime. Phew. Two kids, two ER visits, one summer. I'm done!

We found a new apartment. It's not far from where we are now. The living room is bigger, so I'm very excited that I'll actually be able to have guests over. I'm looking forward to having a stamp party, and to having some of my student e-boards over for dinner/mentoring. The boys room is bigger too, so Aaron can actually go into his own room (well, with his brother) instead of staying in his pack and play in our room.

The past three nights I've been putting Aaron down for bed around 8:30 PM. He'll wake up 1 1/2-2 hours later, then around 5 or 6 am, so he's not quite ready for that early of a bedtime, but he'll get there! He's really a good sleeper. Most nights he does sleep all night. Ben's been sick with a fever for the past two days, so he's been sleeping with me. I've put Aaron in the crib to get him used to it, but end up putting him back in the pack and play after Ben falls asleep. Hopefully in the new place, I can get Ben to start going to bed earlier.

Well, for having nothing to say, I've said a lot. I guess there is more going on than I thought!

Facebook

First of all, I have had so many things happen this past week that I intended to blog about, but I just don't get the chance to sit and type. I'll catch up another time, but I do need to say that Aaron made his first trip to the Emergency Room this week. Long story short, Monday night he had a fever and a rash. I thought it was prickly heat, however on Tuesday the doctor ordered him to the hospital for blood work. It ended up being a virus and the doctor said he commonly sees this rash in the summer. As of tonight, his fever is gone (it's been gone) and the rash is barely visible.

So on to Facebook. I've been avoiding Facebook for about four years. Since I work at a University, I see all the students on Facebook, I hear them talk about it, and I didn't want to be apart of that. A bunch of my students threatened to start a page for me, and I would always respond with not wanting to know what they did at night. About a year and a half ago, I created a page for the "Year Book" to see if it would assist us in getting help putting the book together. Then about a year ago, I created a page for Ben. I figured enough of his life is on this blog, and all my students would get a kick out of it. A few months later J.R. joined, and I must say I think he's a bit addicted now!

Last summer/fall my High School Reunion Committee asked us to join Facebook so we could all keep in touch. I still didn't want a page, so I had Ben's page serve as me. I became interested, but still refused to get a page myself. At the reunion, I told a few people that if they joined Facebook, then I would. Well, soon enough, they all joined, so I figured I needed to own up to my promise. What a ride it was that first week. In the first 7 days, I had 100 friends. They were mostly from high school, a few alums from school/work (I still will not friend current students) and a few others. I'm not sure how many months I've been on now, maybe 6 months I guess, and I have over 350 friends. I make sure I'm friending real friends and acquaintances and not just every person I've every met even for 10 minutes. I hate to admit it, but it's been a ton of fun. I've reconnected with friends from high school, college, old babysitters and even family. As Ben I posted a few high school pictures, and I keep saying I want to post some college pics. I've reminisced a time or two and thought about people I have talked to in years.

Last week, I received a friend request from a woman that I didn't recognize (the pictures are so small) and didn't know the name. I let the request sit and every day or so, I'd look at the picture again to try and figure her out. We had no common friends and I couldn't see any of her profile info. Finally this week, it hit me...Jennie! Jen was my best friend in college during my freshman and sophomore years. She left school part way through junior year, and something happened to us and we lost touch. I was so excited she found me! I gave her my phone number and she called me that night.

Like I said, I reminisced before with others and planned to post some old pictures. But, after talking to Jen for a little while, I immediately grabbed my old photo albums and starting scanning pictures. We had a great conversation. We couldn't figure out why we fought, realized we were young and stupid (and drunk) and love the fact that as adults, none of that matters now and we are prepared to be friends forever. We brought up some old names and I told her some of the people I was friends with. She asked me about a few people in particular, and I said I hadn't really talked to them. I was just their Facebook friend.

This makes me realize I'm not as grown up as I thought. Sure, I have FB friends that I didn't talk to much in high school that I'm communicating with now. I chat casually with a few long lost friends too. But I have friended so many people that I haven't even said hello to. I see other suggested friends pop up that are friends with my friends, and I let the opportunity of a rekindled friendship pass by because I am remembering that person as a high school classmate, instead of a grown up who I have a past connection with. I haven't friended classmates from college because I think of them as a partying partnership gone sour instead of wanting to mend broken bridges. Why do I not see these relationships through the eyes of an adult? As I approach another birthday I feel I'm "getting old", but with age comes wisdom, and I'm wising up to the fact that it feels pretty good to admit I don't know everything, that I made and still make mistakes, and rekindling relationships makes my heart warm.

Jesus tells us to love one another, so I'm going to do just that. I'm logging off now to log onto Facebook. I'm going to search for a few former acquaintances and request their friendship. Then I'm going to write a few letters to let people know how much they meant to me at one time and how much the mean to me still.