Our Weekend

Was spent doing this:

Cooper is still sick.  For 4 weeks now :(

It started out as a runny nose the Monday of the week he started daycare.  We thought it was allergies and gave him benadryl, which really did nothing.

One weekend, he refused to sleep unless we were holding him, so we rook him to urgent care, where we saw seriously the best doctor ever.  I loved her.  She said it was an ear infection.  A “bad” one.  Yikes.  They gave him amoxicillin.

A week later, he was not any better, so we went to see our pediatrician.  That was the day he started getting the rash from the amoxicillin.  The ped said his ear infections was not gone, so he gave us a different antibiotic.  We have since learned that the rash may NOT be because he was/is allergic.  That rash apparently happens in 5-10% of those who take amoxicillin, and it’s just a reaction, and not allergic.  Weird.  So maybe he is not allergic.  We will probably steer clear of it in the future though, because it got pretty bad.

5 days after that, which was this Saturday, Cooper was so lethargic, and all he wanted was for me to hold him.  He even slept on me.  As you can probably imagine, that never happens these days!  And although I did enjoy cuddles, it was so sad :(  And his fever was 103-104.  His terrible runny nose was back again, and he was acting like he had been when we went to urgent care.  He wasn’t sleeping at night, and he wasn’t eating at all.  Mini club crackers is all we could get him to occasionally eat.

We decided to call the pediatrician, who prescribed a third antibiotic!  A baby Z-Pak, for those of you familiar with the amazingness of a Z-Pak.  They always kick whatever you’ve got, for me at least.  It’s only a 3 day dose, so he should have been feeling better today.  Which, his runny nose was WAY better, non-existent really.  But, his fever!  I don’t understand why he would have a constant 103-104 fever.  It was sooo hard to get it down, too.  We have to give him Motrin every 4 hours, instead of 6 like it says (on the doctor’s advice) and even then, we really never could get it all the way down. 

In addition to this constant sickness, he is getting 4-5 teeth.  We think 5 but aren’t sure.  Poor guy!  So when his fever wasn’t better today, I called and they said to bring him in just to check.  Because I wasn’t sure if maybe it’s just his teeth?  That is such a high fever for teething though.  And his sleeping is still horrible.  And he still wouldn’t eat.

After a really sad appointment where they took blood and swabbed his throat, everything came back normal.  And the doctor said his ears look great.  So.  He doesn’t have anything.  Good news.  Hopefully he is at the end of this business.  I feel so so badly for him being sick for a month!  He did eat some lunch and dinner today, though.  And he played for a little bit, so that is promising.  I just feel so bad when I can’t help, you know?

I wonder if, since he started getting sick before he started daycare, if maybe his little immune system couldn’t shake the ear infection with all the little germies from all the kids at school.  Just to be safe, we are keeping him at home for the week to see if that helps.  I hope so, because I miss my happy, playful buddy!

Some thoughts this Tuesday

A plague has taken over my house.  Lee is sick.  Cooper is sick.  I am sick.  We have all been sick for over 2 weeks now.  Lee and I have some kind of upper respiratory horribleness.  Cooper has an ear infection.  His first one.  The ONLY symptom of which was a runny nose.  How am I supposed to know that means an ear infection?!  Mom fail.  And to top it off, on day 9 of amoxicillin (yesterday), he broke out in a head to toe rash.  So I guess he is allergic.  Luckily we were already back at the dr office when I noticed it.

My phone is dying.   I have an iPhone, not the 4 but whatever was before that.  The battery barely lasts until 9pm.  If I use it a lot during the day, to do important things like check twitter 3203573 times, then it will barely last until 5pm.  This morning, I unplugged it at 6:15am, did not use it, and when I looked at it when I got to work, at 7:30, it was already down to 88%.  And I hadn’t even looked at it!  The screen freezes for a few seconds before it will do anything.  I’ve had it for 2 years, and I don’t feel like it should be dying already.  I guess I’m just going to have to get the 5 whenever that comes out :)

Today, it will be 98 outside, and Thursday, it will be 66.  No wonder everyone is sick. 

I can’t decide what Cooper should be for Halloween.  I feel like nothing will ever be as cute as his scarecrow costume last year.  He was freaking adorable.  Also, are we supposed to take him trick-or-treating this year?  He’s only 15 months, so probably not, but how fun would that be?  Not for him, but for me because I would get so much candy ;)  Ohhh, that makes me think, we will actually HAVE trick-or-treaters this year because of our new neighborhood!  Yay fun!

I have pinned SO many things on Pinterest for fall/Halloween décor.  I really want to do some of them (most are DIY) but I don’t have the time to do many, if any at all. I have a bunch of DIY craft stuff I’m already doing for various things!  This is a giant dilemma in my life right now.  Seriously, I think about it daily.  Specifically a wreath, and milk carton ghosts.  I need to get a life.

I can’t believe I just wrote a paragraph on my Pinterest dilemma. 

I am super excited for fall tv.  I just started listing my DVR list of definites and maybes.  Then it got long and I got embarrassed and though about reconsidering the amount of tv I watch.  So I will just say that the one new show I’m hoping is good is Up All Night with Christina Applegate about being new parents.  It looks really finny!   What is YOUR favorite fall show?

School!

I think we all know that Cooper started school last week.  Thank you all for your words of encouragement!  I was a nervous wreck, and of course I woke up late.  Cooper also had  a cold complete with runny nose.  But he did GREAT!!  I was so surprised, and so was his teacher, since I had warned her that he had never been to daycare before! 

Since we were running late, I was in a hurry, but we rushed around and hurriedly took a few pictures before heading out the door.

Dragging his backpack around:

A quick pic with mama, not the best (Oh, p.s. he also had a busted lip from running around in his crib one naptime the weekend before, poor kid):

We got to school, found his room, and met his teacher.  His regular teachers were not there this week for various reasons, which made me even more nervous, but the girl taking their place was super nice and I really like her.

The kids are able to eat breakfast when the arrive if you bring something, which we did, so we got him all situated in those freaking adorable tables that have all those bucket-like seats in them.

Mr Cutie Patootie in his seat with his waffle.  This is his WTF face.  He had this face pretty much the entire time I was with him.  He didn’t freak out, just kept looking around like “what is going on here?”  You can tell he was tired and didn’t feel 100% in the pictures, which added even more concern for me.  Yes, I am always this neurotic.  My poor husband and child.

The teacher offered to take our picture :) I told you I liked her.  Look at his cute little feet dangling :)

I didn’t want to linger and/or get upset in front of Cooper, so I talked to the teacher for about a minute after this, warned her that I would probably call a million times to check on him, and I left.  But, then I had to go back in because I had forgotten his enrollment form that was in his backpack.  Crap.  I ran in real fast and grabbed it.  Cooper was crying a little.  More whining, but the teacher was taking care of him and I ran out.  He did see me but barely.

After I got everything settled with the office, I left and was on my way to work when I realized that in all of my nervousness I had taken his waffle with me!  Oh no.  I had to take it back because he needed to eat.  So I turned around, not a big deal because I hadn’t made it far at all.  But by the time I got back to his room, there were lots more babies and mamas there, so I was able to run in and out without him even seeing me.  And he wasn’t crying or anything.  Probably just had his WTF face on :)

I did not cry.  I teared up a lot of times, but I did not cry.  Until everyone at work asked me how it went.  After the 3rd person, I did start crying. I was grateful though, that everyone cared.  And understood and I got hugs and felt better.  I called several times during the day, and I was surprised to hear that he was doing great!  They said that he cried for a minute when they went on the playground (weird, he loves outside) and also for a minute when they went to the gym.  But other than that, he was having a “great” day :) I was soooooo relieved to hear that!  He even ate most of his lunch AND napped on a cot! 

Lee had something after work that day and I could have picked him up, but it would have been pretty late, so my dad insisted on picking him up.  He missed him and had been texting me all day about how Cooper was doing :)  My dad said when he went to the room, Cooper was playing at a table, heard my dad’s voice, and went running to him, haha.  So cute.

Cooper’s little report card thing for the day said “Cooper had a GREAT day! :)”

On Friday when I dropped him off, he did cry a lot, but his teacher had him and I left pretty quickly.  I ran into a girl I went to college with in the hall. Turns out her son and Cooper are in the same class.  She has really helped me to feel even more at ease with everything.  They love the daycare.  And she told me that as soon as they walked into the classroom on Friday, Cooper stopped crying and was fine.  I called only ONE time to check on him that day.  He was doing great again :)

Oh, funny story, Lee got off work early on Friday, and was going to pick up Cooper, but it was during their nap time, so I called to see if he was napping.  All I said was “My husband was going to pick up our son early, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t napping”, and the girl on the phone said “Okay, is this Cooper’s mom?”  I was a little embarrassed, laughed and said yes.  I really don’t think I’m the crazy mom that calls all the time, but it was funny.

Now, the question is…am I still allowed to call every day to check on him?!  Do people just not call during the day?  This will take some getting used to!

Bits and Pieces - A truly random post

Hi lovers and friends.  How are ya?  I have about a bajillion posts in my head that I’d love to get out there.  I just need about 2 more hours in the day.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask for, right?  I kinda want to do that accent vlog.  I love hearing everyone’s voices/accents.  So fun.  I, however, cringe at my voice on camera, so I’m not too sure about it…

I did 4 things today that made me want to barf.  3 of those things were scheduling meetings with people at work.  Kind of important people.  I have never done these things before and I didn’t know what to say, how to schedule conference rooms, etc. and I felt like a dumbass asking.  But I asked and all was fine.  The fourth was drop $400 on 25 digital images of Cooper from the photographer we have used since he was born.  My parents paid for half (or honestly we wouldn’t have paid that), but makes my stomach drop just thinking about it.  I don’t care who you are, that’s a lot of money for some images.  I will not go into my schpeel about this subject.  I will not. I will not.

I realized today that I haven’t told a single person at this awesome outfit I saw.  Y’all, it was epic.  Cooper and I were leaving Lowe’s a few weeks ago, and this woman was walking over to her big ‘ol truck.  She was wearing acid-washed jeans.  And a matching acid-washed denim halter top.  With a corseted back!!!!!!!!!  A corseted, acid-washed, denim halter top!!  And a baseball cap, clearly, because what else would you wear with that ensemble?  I wish I had taken a photo.

Cooper starts daycare tomorrow.  We call it school.  Because it makes me feel better.  I have never been sad about being a working mom (for the most part), but I have been crying like every day at work for the past couple of weeks!  I don’t know who I am.  I know it is good for him, he will make friends and learn stuff.  But it still makes me sad.  Mostly I’d like to skip over the first few days or weeks that it takes him to get used to it and skip to the time when he is used to it.  And likes it.  Hopefully.  Also, I want to take pictures of him on his first day in his room at school and stuff, but I also don’t want to linger, so I’m not sure what I’ll do…  I will say that Sunday when we left him in the nursery at church, he went right to the worker and walked off to play without a second look back at us, and he didn’t cry the whole time, just had a few almost-crying episodes, so that made me feel a little better.

I went clothes shopping this weekend.  For a few specific pieces.  What did I come home with?  Nothing I intended on getting or even remotely close to it!!  This always happens to me!!  I think that I am officially going to be a strictly online shopper.  It’s easier to keep myself in line.  If only every store/site had free shipping and returns!  Also, if anyone knows where I can get black skinny JEANS, please tell me.  I want actual jeans.  Not jeggings.  Even Gap’s Always Skinny black jeans are more jeggings than jeans.  It’s not a good look on me and not what I’m going for.  Can we get off the jegging obsession?  It would be great if jeggings were available in addition to regular skinny jeans, but it seems like every skinny jean is actually jeggings now and I don’t like it.  If you love jeggings, rock on sister, but my big ass thighs don’t look good in that much spandex!  Whew.  Clearly I feel strongly about this.

I did buy some slim cropped black work pants at Gap (as a substitute for the jeans) and I freaking LOVEEEE them!!  They are awesome.  I want to wear them every day.

In case you didn’t know, I like Gap.  Obvs.

I want a new name for my blog.  I have never liked this one, but I changed it quickly for some personal reasons and nothing I did like was available.  I am not creative enough to come up with something witty.  I need help.  I also want it to be 2 column instead of 3.  There’s too much wasted space on the left and it makes all of my posts seem super long. 

And on that note, I’ll wrap it up so this doesn’t seem super long.  Maybe I’ll post something of substance instead of rambling on about nothing.  Like how I’m doing on freezing meals, or perhaps, some recipes we’ve tried with that!  Oh the anticipation!

A New Way of Cooking Dinner?

If you follow me on Pinterest, then you probably know my little secret.

No, I don’t mean the secret that I love junk food.

No, not the secret that I am (apparently) obsessed with Halloween décor.

No, not the one where I can’t decide how I want to decorate any room in my house.

Clearly, Pinterest gives away a lot of dirty little secrets.

I’m talking about my current obsession with freezer meals.

You see, with my current 8-5 schedule at work (I used to work 7-4 which was amazing), and the commute home, I don’t get home until around 5:45 these days.  I used to get home at 4:30 at the latest.  And that one hour + some?  That is a precious hour to lose!  An hour that I could have spent with Cooper.  So, now that I get even less time with him before his 6:45 bedtime, I refuse to spend it rushing around the kitchen cooking a full dinner (and yes, I do want to cook dinner every night).  I had a hard adjustment to all of this when we moved and I started my new job.  Which I know may sound ridiculous, because it’s only an hour less and most working parents face this every single day.  But, it was new to me and I was trying desperately to figure out a solution that would enable to me to get dinner on the table AND spend some quality time with my baby. (Cooper doesn’t eat what we eat for dinner, mostly because he eats so early and goes to bed often before dinner is even fished.)

Pinterest to the rescue!! I started seeing pins of freezer meals.  Some with pictures of freezers stocked full of pre-made, ready to bake, dinners.  I couldn’t pin those fast enough!  Once I pinned, and eventually followed the link (is it just me, or do y’all obsessively pin but never get around to clicking through to the link?), I was hooked.  This was totally do-able!  I decided that I would cook several meals once a week, or a couple times a month, on a weekend.  That way, we would have dinner mostly made and I could just pop it in the oven, on the stove, or (nest of all!) in the crock pot and then I could enjoy my precious time with Cooper.

I actually ordered a book, Don’t Panic Dinners in the Freezer, which has some great information on how-to’s and some really great husband-approved recipes!  For us, it’s not really sensible to make a TON of freezer meals, just because we simply don’t have the freezer space(although in unrelated discussions, we do want to eventually get a second fridge or freezer only for the garage, so maybe in the future that would be a possibility).  I also do worry about keeping things in there for too long, one of my main concerns with this whole idea is that the frozen meals won’t taste very good, but we’ll just have to wait and see on that.  Anyway, I decided to start small and just make one weeks-worth of meals last weekend.  But, I made two of each meal, to save for another time.  I got the idea from the book.  Genious!! 

So last Sunday, I made 2 casseroles, enough meatballs for 3 meals, enough marinated chicken for 3 meals, and enough pork chops for 4 meals.  All of that, in less than an hour and a half!  Seriously!  And, because we don’t usually eat an entire recipe, some of the recipes, as you can see, made 3 or 4 separate meals for us.  And?  I did it all while Cooper was napping :)  I had told Lee my idea, and he didn’t understand how it would really save time, but once I told him everything I’d made in that amount of time, he took back his negative comments!  And this way, Lee can even cook his own dinner sometimes, because it’s pretty easy (even for him) to pull something out of the freezer and put it in the oven. (The poor man can’t cook)

I have to be honest and say that we have yet to eat a frozen meal because our schedule has been a little weird this week, but I’ll be sure to let you know how they all turned out!

The end. For now.

So, remember when I talked about how Cooper is on a waiting list for daycare?  I have been waiting patiently to call and ask very nicely if they can possible give me some kind of tentative maybe possible date/month that he would get in.  It’s only been about 3-4 weeks, but I am impatient, we all know.  And, my dad has been asking :/

Then yesterday happened and I read KLaw’s post in which she was elated that her son finally got into their daycare of choice.  Almost a year and a half after he was put on the waiting list.  Immediately I thought “Yay!” Then, “Oh…shit…it can take over a year.  Must call daycare.” 

I know.  It can take over a year.  This is an obvious statement to anyone with a child.  WHY was I not thinking clearly about this?  I am fully aware of the ridiculous lists that daycares have and I know how hard it can be to get in.  I just was hoping for the best I guess.  I don’t know what I was doing.  Honestly, I don’t have half the brain that I had pre-Cooper.

Anyway, I called to ask if they could give me any kind of remotely approximate month that he would be able to get in.  I’m not asking for a specific date and time here.  It’s annoying that they won’t give me at least an idea.  She gives me the whole dance about how she really just can’t tell how long anyone will be on the wait list, blah, blah.  I mean, come on lady, I just want to know if it would be in the next couple of months.  Then she tells me there are 20 one year olds waiting on the class.  A class that holds like 10ish kids.  Yes, I knew the 20 kids thing, but for some unknown idiotic reason, I didn’t think it was 20 kids waiting on HIS class.  I thought overall, 20 kids.  I know, I am dumb.  FINALLY, that’s when I started to have a moment of clarity.  Then she tells me how they are going to have an expansion, and she would definitely be able to tell me more in JANUARY.  I think that’s when I blacked out.  January?  HOW could I have been thinking so stupidly?!  Duh!!  It’s not just some little list and he’s going to get in in September (when we were hoping for).  Clearly, we need to find something to do in the meantime.  I silently freaked out for the remainder of Wednesday afternoon, going over our limited options.

Basically we have two options.  Either put him on the other, shorter list for our 2^nd choice daycare.  Or, find someone to come to our house and watch him 3 days a week.  I (well, we) prefer the structure of an actual daycare, not to mention the possible risks and what-ifs and logistics of finding a person to come to our house and watch him. There are lots of unknowns there, even though I know it CAN work out great (I found a mutually awesome (meaning I was awesome and so was the family :) ) nanny job through the newspaper when I was in college), but I didn’t want to go through that process if I didn’t have to.

This morning I called 2^nd choice daycare, praying that no one else had been added to the list since we toured in July.  I cringed as I asked if she could possibly tell me what the chances are of getting him enrolled in September.  You know what?  Not only had no one been added to the list, but there was NOT a list!  She said she could enroll him over the phone!  For September!!  Yay!!! 

This is a huge weight lifted.  I’m not totally thrilled with having an interim daycare, since it’s just one more routine he will get in to only to have that disrupted as well, because we still ultimately want Cooper to go to the 1^st choice, and he is still on the list, but for now, this is what we have to do. 

And, let me say that this 2^nd daycare is very highly recommended (I’m surprised they have an opening) and we do love it.  To be completely honest, it’s only our 2^nd choice because it is about 30% more expensive than the 1^st choice, and we didn’t like it 30% more.

Once again, the chapter is only temporarily closed on daycare.  But at least now I won’t be constantly stressed out that we are wearing my dad out and overwhelmed with guilt that we are taking advantage of him.  I’m interested to see how Cooper does in daycare, with other kids.  He gets so excited to see other kids his age when we are out (it’s kind of embarrassing when he stares at them or goes up to strangers and pats them on the back, haha), so I think he will be excited about having friends to play with :)

14 Months

Dear Cooper,

Today you turned 14 months old.  I was going to cut back on these posts after your birthday, and only write every three months, but you are just doing so much these days that I just had to write it all down.

Let’s see…I guess we should start where we left off, at 12 months.

About a week after your birthday, you started walking!  I stood you on the ground and you walked all the way across Poppa and Grandma’s living room!  We were in shock!  And you haven’t slowed down since.  You now love to run, well, your version of running!  You love to be chased by daddy or me, and you especially love to chase the dogs.  They aren’t fans, surprisingly :)

You also love when your dad lets you sit on his back while he crawls on the floor.  This gets HUGE belly laughs from you.  You just think it is hilarious!  We started brushing your teeth about a month ago, and although we were unsure as to how you would like it, we were pleasantly surprised that you LOVE brushing your teeth.  You smile the whole time.  I think you mostly love the flavored toothpaste.

Recently, you have really started picking up on everything.  It’s amazing to realize that you suddenly know something.  You know where your toes, ears, and mouth are.  When we ask you if you want to brush your teeth, you point to your tongue.  When we get ready to go somewhere, I’ll say “Okay Buddy, let’s go bye bye”, and you will stop anything you’re doing, and walk to the garage door!  If we ask if you’re ready for a bathtub or night night, you will walk over to the stairs and pull on the gate.  If we say “shoes”, you point to your feet!  You are so smart! :)

You have been sleeping in much later than you used to!  We are LOVING this!  You now go to bed around 7pm (although I do think you would stay up later if we let you) and sleep until anywhere from 7:30-8:30 the next morning!  Soooo much better than the old days of 5 am wake ups every morning!  I do feel badly that we have to wake you up at 6:30 on weekdays though.  And, I have to admit, weekends are not nearly as productive, haha.

You are still quite the picky eater.  One day you will love something, and the next day you will hate it.  You still throw your food on the floor all the time, whether you like it or not.  Luckily you love pretty much all fruits and veggies.  I believe strawberries are your favorite right now, you could eat your weight in them!  You also love “smoothies” which is really just milk+yogurt.  You get one of those most mornings on the way to Poppa’s house.  I can’t believe I let you have it in the car.  But so far, no issues so we’ll continue that.

You drank out of a straw for the first time a few weeks ago, and you thought that was so fun, haha :) You also love to drink straight out of cups like we do.  We also went out to eat a few weeks ago, which is something that we very rarely do.  You were not in the best mood, and you aren’t used to eating out, so we were prepared to have to leave, but you did so well!  You loved the attention from everyone in the restaurant, and you hammed it up, showing your big cheesy grin to anyone who talked to you.  It was a relief to know that if we wanted to go out to eat with you more often, we could.  We just don’t eat out much in general.

You still aren’t really talking yet.  You say “Dah” for dog, and when asked “What does the dog say?”, you will usually say “woof”, which is pretty much the most adorable thing.  And actually it sounds more like “woosh”, but you know what you’re saying :)  You say Dada (sometimes said “ahda”), and I thinkyou know who that is.  You are just now starting to sort of, sometimes, say Mama.  Usually you will say it, then I will say “Mama?” and you will say “ahda!”, which is Dada, so that’s awesome.  Poor Mama. ;)

You are very opinionated.  You don’t like to be told no, but who does?  We had a couple of rough weeks/months adjusting to this new side of your personality, because before, you were so easy going, and really never threw a fit.  But now we are pretty used to you having an opinion about what you want to do.  You are still pretty easy going, most of the time.  But, you are also learning to throw a pretty good temper tantrum.  Honestly, I can’t help but laugh when you get so mad that you throw yourself on the ground and cry.  It’s a pretty dramatic reaction to being told “no” to eating dog food or touching the hot stove.  But, it’s also a pretty good sign that you’ve inherited some of your Mama’s personality :)

You were a little sick a week or so ago, so we took you to the doctor.  When they weighed you, you were almost 2 pounds heavier than you were at your 12 month appointment!  I wasn’t really surprised, you had seemed like you were heavier to pick up.  You are wearing 12-18 month clothes, a size 4 diaper, and a size 5 shoe.  Your hair is getting thick and it grows so fast!  You had it cut 2 months ago, and you are already overdue for another trim.  It’s also getting very wavy on top and curly in the back.  We have to wet it down every morning and comb it.

You have 6 full teeth right now.  Two on top, and 4 on bottom.  Your other top two, on either side of the middle, are poking through, and I think that you are starting to get your one year molars.  I thought I’d be sad for you to lose your gummy smile, but I love seeing those little teeth when you smile or laugh, they are adorable!

Basically, you’re the best little boy ever.  Your daddy and I love you to piece and we can’t imagine what we ever did without you.  Happy 14 months, Coopie!