No More Day-Care!

In previous posts, I have mentioned that I haven't been really happy with our day-care, and finally I have hit my limit. There are several things that I have had issues with, but the last ones were too much: one day they didn't feed him breakfast and the huge one is that the teacher in the morning ignores him. William suffers from separation anxiety, so when I drop him off he always cries. Yes, that is completely normal, and I expect it. It isn't easy for me to hear him cry, but I know since he only goes to day-care one day a week that it is expected. However, not once has the teacher ever tried to console William when I leave. He stands there, just crying his eyes out, without a loving word or hug from the teacher. That was totally unacceptable to me, so I called the day-care to make an appointment to discuss it. The man I talked to, Gus, was such a jerk on the phone. To summarize the conversation, he basically said that William is having separation anxiety since he only goes to day-care once a week (um, yes I know that) and that with so many kids, sometimes they just have to cry if all their physical needs are being met (like not hungry, hurt, wet, etc). Oh, and that they are bending over backwards for us since they take him one day a week and lose money the other 4 since they can't have a full-time position. He wasn't listening to me at all. I just wanted the teacher to pay attention to William and try to comfort him a little when he is upset. The thing that really irked me was at the end of the conversation he told me that he would ask the teacher to be, "more politically correct" with me. WHAT? I could care less about me! I care about my son's emotional needs not just his physical! How could you just let a baby cry without even a caring word? So, I sent a certified letter on Thursday, saying their services were terminated. Mom and Benjamin will take turns taking the next 5 Tuesdays off and then I will be off for summer. I can't take off because I am out of days and when I take off it costs us $230! I am so glad to be done with that stupid day-care (where I, myself, caught hand, foot, mouth disease a few months ago!). Ugh!

William is doing pretty well, other than his sleeping. He went from a really good sleeper, to not so good. Maybe even terrible! He wakes up almost every night about 12am crying, and then we can't get him back to sleep for 2 hours! It really took a toll on me this week. It is almost like it was when we brought him home from the hospital, but then I wasn't working full-time. Last night, he did sleep longer, and I am feeling better, but he needs a lot more nights in a row so Mommy and Daddy can get to feel like humans again! Still no walking yet. His favorite thing to do now is spit out water when he drinks from his sippy. Oh, great fun! ;-) He now has 5 teeth and the 6th one has just popped through the gums a bit today. Summer can't some soon enough. I can't wait until I am officially a stay-at-home-mom!!

Here is a funny picture of William's first taste of pickle. It was taken with my phone, so the quality isn't as good. I don't think he enjoyed it much. What do you think?

I now have a 13 month old!

Awww, my little (well, not so little anymore) 13 month old. He is the best! He still isn't walking, but he cruises around the entire house, almost like he is doing laps. He finally got his 3rd tooth. It just poked through the gums yesterday, and the 3 next too it are knocking on the door! We have his 12 month dr's appointment Monday. I know, we are a little late. Between the ear infections and the ear surgery itself, we had to cancel his 12 month appointment 2 times! Hopefully, we won't have to cancel again. We need to make sure he keeps up on his immunizations. There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about immunizations and autism. It scares me a little to do the immunizations, but I am hoping everything will work out ok. I have lots of food questions for the dr, and hopefully will get some good info about switching from a bottle to the sippy. He does great with juice or water in the sippy, but still just doesn't want milk in it! I tried to get a video clip of William doing all his tricks, but the quality is pretty bad (goes in and out of focus) but I'll post it here anyway.




Benjamin and I are fine. Benjamin has been working very hard cleaning out and moving all our games in the basement for installation of carpet. With our tax return this year, we decided to carpet the basement. Not only will it be nice for us, but it will also add value to the house if we have to sell. For those of you who have seen our basement with the 9 pinball games, crane game, pusher game, asteroids game, bowling game, juke box, Space Duel game, pool table, Foosball table, treadmill, entertainment center, and futon - he worked his little tail off! I can't wait until we get it installed! Of course, then he has to move all that stuff back! Ouch. I am fine. Spring break went way too fast, and spring fever has hit my classroom. We have a lot of field trips coming up, so hopefully that will be fun. We are looking into getting another dog! I've been heart broken since the death of Dusty, but it just hasn't been the right time to get another dog. I have put in an application with a retriever rescue, and they are going to do a home visit tomorrow! Hopefully, they can match us with a great dog. I'd like to get a puppy, so maybe we can aim for June when I am home. It might be a challenge to have a puppy and a toddler, but I am up for it!

William's Surgery

William had his Ear Tube surgery on March25th. He did really well and his recovery is going well too. We started the day early getting to the hospital at 6:00am. With no bottle or any food after midnight, William did really well. We thought he'd be pretty cranky with no food. They called us back, got him in a cute purple gown, and took his vitals. While we waited in the back for them to get us, Pastor Butch joined us and we had some down time. The nurse came and gave the baby some relaxing medicine about a half hour before the surgery, and if a baby could be drunk, that is what William was acting like. I'd have to say, he was relaxed! At 7:30am, they came to get us. I got on the bed with the baby, and they wheeled us down the hall for his induction (putting him to sleep for the surgery) while Benjamin and Pastor Butch walked with us. Benjamin and I got to go with him in the induction room, and got to hold his hand during the whole thing. There were about 8 medical people in there, and all of them were saying how cute William is. Even while they were putting the little mask on him, he was full of smiles. Once he was asleep, we left to let the dr do his thing. We waited in the room right outside the induction room, and about 15 minutes later the dr came out and said William did well. He told us William had infections in both ears, and that with the swelling from the infection, they might bleed a little. They took William to the recovery room, and we said good-bye to Pastor Butch and went back the the surgery waiting room. About 2 minutes after we got to the waiting room, the nurse called us and I was allowed to go back to see William. When I got there, the baby was crying and had just started to come out of his sleep. I held him and rocked him, but he continued to cry. I was getting a little nervous. After about 10 minutes, they took us from the recovery room to back to where we were before they took us to the surgery. Benjamin was able to come back too. William was still crying, and I was still pretty nervous that something was wrong. Benjamin said he was probably hungry (it was about 8:30am by then) and with the nurse's approval, we gave William a bottle. Well, that must have been it, because after the bottle, he calmed down - even to the point that he fell asleep. We let him sleep for about 15 minutes, and the nurse gave us our instructions and said we could leave. We put his jammies back on him (didn't even wake him up) and headed home. Once we got home, William woke up and even had a bite to eat. By the afternoon, he was going so great that if you didn't know he had surgery earlier in the morning, you'd never know. Now, 4 days later, he is doing great. We have a follow up appointment on the 8th. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers! Hopefully, these tubes will be the best thing and he won't get anymore darn ear infections! Here are a couple pictures I took with my cell phone while at the hospital...

Cuddling with Mommy before the surgery.

Cuddling with Daddy after the surgery.

Asleep after his bottle after the surgery.

Asleep in the car on the way home.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter Everyone!

We had a very nice Easter even though it snowed! Not much Easter Egg hunting in the snow, but it made for a beautiful morning. We started off the day with an Easter Breakfast at church. The puppets did a little skit and boy did William enjoy it! Then we came back home for about an hour and went back to church for worship services. It was a very moving service with 5 baptisms! It reminded me of my own baptism on Easter when I was 19 years old and of William's. After church, we went back home for a quick lunch and then over the Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter dinner. It was a very nice day, and William was sure a good boy. When we went home for lunch, William was feeling a little warm, and he ended up having a 100.4 temperature. I suspect another ear infection. Good thing we have a dr's appointment tomorrow with the ENT and with Parkview to do admit paperwork for his ear tube surgery Tuesday. Even with his fever he was a very good boy (like he always is) and did a lot of showing off for the family. Here are a few pics from today (and from a year ago to see how much he has grown)!

Then (2007)

Now (2008)

Then (2007)

Now (2008)

Sitting in Great-Grandpa's Chair!!

Coloring Easter Eggs yesterday!

William and the Easter Bunny

We are selling our house - Well, maybe not!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a nice St. Patrick's Day. So, what's happening in our household? Well, we were selling our house, but we have now taken it off the market. I want to be a stay at home mom, and the only way that we could afford to do it was to sell our beautiful home and get a cheaper one. Well, after some number crunching, we will be able to refinance and get some equity out of the house to use as my income for the year. The only kicker is that since we had our house on the market (for a full 2 weeks is all) we have to wait 90 days to refinance. I'm not sure exactly why, but those are the rules. So, we will just be as is until June. If the refinance doesn't go through or we hit a snag, then we will put the house back on the market. I hope we won't have to sell as we just built this house and we both love it - but on the other hand, I want to stay home with the baby and if I have to sell the house to do it, then oh well. Speaking of the baby.

Our poor little man has had a rough couple weeks. As you know, he had another ear infection and then last week had croup. He is now off all his medication, but today when I looked in his mouth I saw 4 teeth just about to poke through. FOUR!! All at once! He will go from having 2 teeth to a whole mouthful! Also, he is scheduled to have surgery on March 25th. He will be getting the ear tubes, and hopefully that will take care of the ear infections. Our poor little guy has just had once sickness after another. Hopefully the tubes with help, and maybe some warmer weather will help too. Even with all this going on, he still is a pretty happy boy full of smiles.

How are Benjamin and I? Benjamin is doing well. He was in Atlanta last week for a training. He survived the big tornado there! He now has a great war story, but I was sure glad to get him home. I'm doing pretty well too. Next week is spring break and it can't come soon enough. I plan on taking care of the baby after his surgery and just relaxing. I am really excited about the prospects of being a "Stay at Home Mom". I have even submitted my request for parental leave to the school district. I can take up to 2 years off and still keep a position when I come back. I won't be able to get my current job, but I would at least be guaranteed a job when I return. I will probably sub a couple days a week, but I will really like the flexibility of subbing. I can work when I want to, and if the baby is sick I can stay home with him. So, that means William will only have 9 more times at daycare, and let me tell you, I am counting the days. (I'm not the happiest person with our daycare if you haven't figured out. But that is another post). So, overall we are doing well. Once all those teeth come in I'll post a picture!

Happy Birthday Sweet William!!

I am a few days late, but I have finally found a few minutes to update my blog (while the baby is napping). First and foremost, my darling little boy is now 1 year old. I can't believe how much the baby has grown, but even more so how my I, myself, have grown - as a mother, a wife, and a woman. Before William was first born, I had no experience with babies at all. Other than holding a few, I had very limited exposure, and in fact had never even changed a diaper EVER! So, when William was born, the first few weeks were very tough for me. (I think a bout of post pardum depression didn't help either.) I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, was afraid to be alone with the baby (as nuts as that sounds) and basically felt like I had no business being a mother. Thank goodness for my Mom. Those 9pm crying phone calls to have her come over and tell me what to do, helped me through the first few weeks - more than she may know! As the months have rolled on, my confidence as a mother has greatly increased. I have a new appreciation for my mother that I never would have known if I was not a mother myself now. Even just saying that I am a mother is a little weird since Benjamin and I has such problems getting pregnant in the first place. I also have a new love for Benjamin - deeper. When I see him playing with the baby or just being with him, my heart overflows with love. Life is surely sweeter now with the baby. I admit, that not all days are sunshine and roses, but I am more happy being a mother than I have been in my whole life.

William is fantastic! It has been truly amazing seeing him progress this past year. From rolling, to crawling, and now almost walking, I love every stage he has gone through and look forward to the next. It will be a whole new ball game when he can actually communicate with words! I have to say, the the past month or so has really brought out his personality. He gets very angry now when you take away something he shouldn't have to don't give him something he wants. I'd have to say we are seeing the beginnings of temper tantrums! Overall, he still is such a happy boy that sometimes I wonder how we got so lucky. He had lots of fun at his birthday party, even though the poor baby has another ear infection. We enjoyed opening his presents, and I've have to say his favorite presents were a pinwheel and balloons! Thanks for all of you who were able to come and got him a present. He's had a fun morning playing with all his new toys. Here are a few pictures of his party from yesterday.

Decorating the church!

Cute cake! (The little one I made myself!)

How old is William? ONE!

William having fun opening presents!

Yummy cake!

Too much party fun!

Here is a montage of his first year that I played at the party!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com