It's Not Much But It Has A Great View

The view out my window at work today:



These are the three construction workers on a scaffold right outside my window who are NOISY! It sounds like they are going to be coming right through the wall any minute. I can't even hear myself think so you can imagine how productive I am. And can you say awkward? I want to put my blinds down but I don't know what kind of message I'm sending with that. They can't see me when I'm at my computer anyhow so I'm just going to leave the blinds where they are. They are working on a skywalk between my building and the next- it used to have 3 windows and now it will be all windows. A very nice project (the old ones looked worse than what's in Rex's diaper) and I'm glad they're doing it even if I never get to enjoy it. But couldn't they have waited until Monday when I won't be here anymore???

What's Cooking?

I am so excited to be staying home starting next week. Besides being able to take care of Rex all day and spend my time with him, I am looking forward to being able to keep a clean house, always have clean laundry, have time to get all the errands done, bills paid on time (the one item on this list I have made time for), and most of all, cooking and baking. I really enjoy both and have gotten the bug already so I've been cooking up some stuff in the kitchen over the last week. Or it may be the weather change and fall starting to set in that is inspiring me- I made two recipes with apples and the third was a casserole. It has cooled down a lot here in Iowa and the leaves are starting to change on the trees. I love this time of year!

Last weekend, I made an apple pie (from my trusty Good Housekeeping Cookbook)- crusts, filling, all of it from scratch. I have determined I need a pastry blender and will have to pick one up soon. Having to cut in the shortening with the flour using two knives is not a lot of fun. I think there are better recipes for pie crust out there so I will try a different one next time. The filling was excellent though and it looked pretty good too.




I tried a recipe for zucchini and beef casserole out of my new Dream Dinners cookbook. I really liked it but they had you cook it for way too long- thankfully I realized it wouldn't need so long to cook so I shortenend up the time. I will cook it even less next time. And put in less oregano. I used to love going to Dream Dinners and making up meals but they don't have a store near me now. Having the cookbook is probably a much cheaper way to do it anyhow!

I made applesauce cookies from a recipe found in the Parade magazine in the paper this weekend. I couldn't find the recipe on their website but I found one on Allrecipes.com that is almost the same. The only difference was that the one I made called for a cinnamon/sugar mixture to be sprinkled on top before baking. I don't like walnuts so I didn't put those in and I didn't have raisins so I didn't add those. They still turned out really good but I think they would be better with raisins in them.

Nanette just had a post about mini-bundt cakes (they looked delicious) and I'm already feeling the urge to make something else now. Need to go through my cookbooks tonight and find something else to try...

Take This Job and ...

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted anything! Sorry to everyone out there but our life has been so crazy. SOOO crazy. I went back to work on Monday, August 25th and it was terrible. I missed my baby so much. Rex actually seems to do just fine at daycare but Rob and I were a wreck. Wouldn't you want to spend your days with this guy?



So Rob and I spent a lot of time last week figuring out how we could make it on one income. That was one of the major reasons for moving to Iowa- for me to stay home with the kid. I met with my bosses on Thursday last week and told them I was quitting and gave them my two weeks notice. It was pretty hard because they've all been so great to me and I enjoy working there. I have nothing bad to say about anyone or anything there. If I didn't like it, it would have been much easier to tell them "See ya" but it was kind of difficult. I made it through though and we are really looking forward to me staying home with Rex. We won't have the budget to do lots of fun things and go to fun places anymore but it's worth the sacrifice. I've had so many people at work tell me that I'm doing the right thing and I'll be so glad I am home with Rex. I have no doubts about that. So now I've got just one more week of work and that's it! It is really weird though too- I've had a job almost constantly since I was 16. I'll still have a job though- just no money in the bank account to show for it!

I forgot to mention it in the last post, but at Rex's two-month check-up he weighed 14 pounds and 10 ounces. Holy cow! It's been a couple weeks and I'm sure he's gained another pound by now. He eats so much. In fact, I need to go take care of that really soon here. He coos a bunch now and giggles and it has to be the best thing ever. I can sit there for hours and watch him- Rob can too. And that's a good thing since we will probably be giving up our cable tv now!

*Note: The title of this post previously was "Take This Job and Shove It" but Rob pointed out that it didn't sound too good. I didn't mean anything bad towards the people I work with or my job so I'm sorry if anyone thought that. It wasn't my intention.

The Captain is Sleeping

Rob and I like to use the phrase "Captain Obvious" a lot- I think I actually got that off an episode of The O.C. Anyhow, it comes in handy whenever the other says something dumb and well, obvious. So when I saw the "Captain Adorable" onesie at Target last week, I just had to get it. I think it's my favorite onesie so far- Rob's too.

We've had some tough times around here lately. Rex turned two months old yesterday which meant a visit to the doctor for a check-up and getting some nasty shots. The poor guy got a whopping 5 shots in his legs. He cried and screamed and so I cried too. Rob was the strong one and helped us both get through it. I don't want him to get any of those horrible illnesses so he had to get them but I wish there was an easier way to do it. He slept quite a bit in the afternoon which meant last night was not so much fun because Rex was not very tired. I think I got about 3 hours of sleep. He has been doing very well lately with sleeping- stretches of 5+ hours- but yesterday was an exception.

It seems like I have noticed a lot of changes in Rex over the last week. He's starting to talk a little, sleep better and his personality is starting to come through. It's so fun to watch all that happen. He made a big breakthrough this week with his swing- we had tried it several times and his reaction to it was never that great. However, when I put him in it on Monday, it was suddenly the greatest thing ever. He had a huge smile on his face and was talking to it and just having the best time. I think he can see a lot better now and part of what he was enjoying so much was the mobile, which I don't think he even noticed before. I took a picture but since he was swinging, it's a little blurry.



The other tough thing is that I go back to work next week. Rob and I both hate it, but I have to work for another year. So Rex starts day care on Monday with a wonderful lady but it still sucks. And going back to work sucks. Bleh is all I have to say.

It's Been a While

It's been a while since my last post and we've been busy. Rex had a growth spurt last week and was eating all the time which kept both of us occupied for most of the day and night. He wasn't sleeping much at all and it didn't seem to bother him but I thought I was going to die. I did manage to get his birth announcements sent out, at least most of them, so now I can share my favorite picture of him. I wanted to save it so when people got the announcement, there would be something new on there to see.



We celebrated Rob's birthday this past weekend. It wasn't much of a celebration since it's hard for me to get out of the house to do any shopping for presents or groceries to make him a birthday dinner. I was able to get the groceries but then did not get the dinner started in time so we ordered some burritos to be delivered. They told us it would be 45 minutes to an hour but actually took 1 hour and 20 minutes. Had we known, I would have just made the dinner because it wouldn't have taken much longer than that. I was also able to accomplish the gift shopping though thanks to gift cards and Amazon. Rex got him an iTunes card, I got him a pepper mill (crazy but he's been wanting one for a long time now) and a gift card to Lowe's so he can pick out a circular saw. I have no idea which one to get him- better that he picks it out himself. He got a couple more gift cards to Lowe's and I think he's going to use them to buy a new storm door for the house. Yes, turning 39 is sooo exciting! We will definitely make sure that next year's birthday is way more exciting but here's a picture from our little celebration.



On a side note, I had Amazon gift wrap the pepper mill (which went over very well, by the way) and it looked like a 3 year-old wrapped it! I couldn't believe it. It looked HORRIBLE. It wasn't complimentary either; it cost $4 or $5 if I remember right. I thought it was worth the money though to save me the time but had I known, I never would have paid for that crap. Just a little warning to any of you Amazon shoppers out there.

Finally (because Rex is causing quite a fuss now and I need to go) I had Rob take a picture of me and my baby on Sunday since I don't have too many. I just don't ever think about it but I need to get more of these. So here it is..

Say Cheese!

Rex is smiling now and it is the best! I had to check to make sure but I discovered that it is now a response to something pleasurable instead of just a random event. I am so glad I managed to capture it on camera so I could share that with everyone.

I had to take Rex to the doctor this morning because he was having some issues with his two big toes but he's okay. While we were there, they weighed him and it turns out he is 12 pounds and 2 ounces! I told the nurse who weighed him, "Oh my goodness- he's only 5 1/2 weeks old!" She said, "Oh, wow! He's a big boy then." I took another picture of him that has his whole body in the picture.



Rob and I are also doing well. Now that he's done with the roofing project and cleaning up the garage area, Rob wanted to start on another project. He asked me yesterday about what we should do with the front porch because he was getting ready to rip out. I managed to talk him into waiting to start another big project for a while and in the meantime, spending some time with me and Rex. He likes to be busy and fix stuff around the house but I think it will be good to have him in the house for a while too. Rex slept for a 4.5 hour stretch last night (from 10:30 p.m. until 3:00 a.m.) which was so wonderful. He also slept for another 2 or 2.5 hours after that so we got some pretty good sleep last night. There was a big peeing/pooping incident in between there but it's nothing we can't handle. I'm just busy feeding Rex all the time (how do you think he got to be over 12 pounds?!) but I have been getting out more and more lately. I think I'm even going to get a massage in the next few weeks and I am so looking forward to that.

One Month Old

Rex turned one month old last Sunday- it is a little hard to believe that it has already been a month since he was born. He's such a good baby and is still doing great. Everything (like sleeping and eating) continues to get better and easier for all of us. We talked about getting him a little cake to celebrate the occasion but ended up not doing that after all. The day wasn't too exciting- Rob finished up the roof (Yay!) and Rex and I just stuck close to the house where he ate, slept and pooped the day away. He also got a bath that night. Rex and I have been taking walks every morning. We first tried that out last Friday and he just loves being out and about in his stroller. And he usually falls asleep during the walk which I love. Here's a couple of photos of him at one month old.





As I mentioned, Rob has finished up the roof. He even has a lot of the interior work- new ceiling tiles and insulation- done now too. It rained and rained (think rainforest/Amazon kind of rain) the other night and he discovered a very small leak still so he'll have to fix that now. It was on the trickiest part of the roof where the garage meets the house in a very awkward area so it isn't too surprising.

Up On The Rooftop

Rex and I haven't gotten to see too much of Rob lately- here's where he has been hiding.



I think I mentioned a few months ago when the snow started to melt that we discovered we had a leaky roof over a portion of our garage/four seasons room. The power to our house also came in at that area on the roof and into the attic so we had to get all our electrical undergrounded. Now that the undergrounding has been completed, Rob has been working on re-roofing the leaky half of the garage. We got some quotes from roofers to do it but with Rob doing it, it's saving us lots of money. LOTS. Still, I think if he had it to do over again, he may have opted to just pay someone because it turned out to be more difficult and time consuming than he imagined. He's stopped giving me estimates of when he thinks it might be done but I really think it's going to be soon. None of us have enjoyed him spending all his free time in the evenings and weekends up on that roof. But yay for saving money and him almost being done!

Rex continues to be doing very well. He's getting something of a schedule going now which includes two 2.5-3 hour sleeping periods in the night. He goes down around 11:00 or 12:00 at night and then wakes up around 2:00 or 3:00. Feeding and related business usually takes about an hour then it's back to sleep until 5:00 or 6:00. That's not so bad- I can definitely live with that. And some mornings he'll even sleep a little more after that feeding but not for so long. I watched an episode of Baby Story on TLC today- something I never did while I was pregnant and for good reason. The lady on there today looked like she was about to pass out because of all the pain and then it turned out she was only dilated to 2 cm! She was asking for the epidural already. Then it kept wearing off and by the time she got to 9 cm, they couldn't give her any more drugs because she had already asked for too many. Yikes. She ended up having a boy that was almost exactly the same size as Rex. I don't know if she was a total wimp or if I was just pretty tough or I had it easier but my goodness- my labor experience seemed to be a ton better and easier than hers. Glad I didn't watch that show before Rex was born or I probably would have been terrified!

Here's a photo of Rex from this morning. He's gotten so much bigger and his legs and arms and face- everything really- are all filling out so much. I wish I had a little baby scale at home to weigh him but I guess we'll just have to wait until he goes back to the doctor for his 2-month check up.

Just the Two of Us

Rex and I have been on our own during the day for a little while now and we're doing pretty good. He's learning to make friends with the swing and his bouncy seat, I'm happy to report. In fact, he's napping in the bouncy seat right now. It was a little scary to be on my own with him at first but we're doing tons better now. He still doesn't really have anything resembling a schedule but he's not even 3 weeks old yet. I'm sure that comes with time. The sleeping at night is going pretty well. He sleeps good, just wakes up (very) often to feed. I read that breastmilk is absorbed a lot quicker than formula so that is the reason he gets hungry more often. Oh well- I can sleep later. Here's a few photos but I put a bunch more on Flickr this afternoon- you can click the panel on the side to get to those.

Getting Reacquainted with the Bouncy Seat


Having some Doctor-Mandated Tummy Time

Pillow and a Vending Machine

That's about all I feel like these days- a human pillow and a place to get some food. I am afraid Rex has gotten into a bad habit where he only wants to nap if someone is holding him. He does okay at night now in the bassinet- thank goodness. He just doesn't seem to like his bouncy seat too much anymore. At first I thought he couldn't possibly understand that if he cries when he's in the seat, someone will pick him up. He's only 2 weeks old and I just didn't think he could figure all that out. Oh, but he has. When the house is empty again and it's just the two of us, we'll fix that. He has to be okay in the seat because I can't hold him all day like I do now once my helpers are back in California. And I don't want to take him to day care when he's two months old and tell his caregiver, "You have to hold him all day or he'll cry." It just won't work and we'll have to fix that.

He had his 2-week check with the pediatrician on Thursday and he aced it. He is back up to 9 pounds after dropping to 8 lbs, 3 oz the week before. He lost his cord stump the night before the appointment so the doctor checked that out and said it looked just fine. Everything else checked out well and it felt good to know we had successfully got through the first two weeks without damaging our child.

In other news, his sleeping pattern- well, it has no pattern. Some nights go really well and some nights he is wide awake and wants to eat every hour or so. In pooping news, we did have a pretty funny incident the other day. I had just finished feeding him and was changing his diaper when in the midst of the change, he had to poop. It didn't just dribble out though- it shot out in a big arc and got all over the place. I yelled for Rob to come back to his room and the two of us were just laughing and laughing. It was totally gross, but it was so funny too. Rob said, "I don't even know where to start" and I said "Get the camera!" We got it cleaned up eventually but here's one of the photos. I'll put up some other Rex photos from the last week too after that.

His changing table in the foreground with the chair we nurse in- it was all on the floor in between too.


Tummy time with dad


Having some success trying to figure out how to suck his thumb


Napping with Dad and Gramps during a race (back last Sunday when it was still okay to be in the bouncy seat)