Jeffiner's Blog

Two!

2007-03-28T09:53:00.000-08:00

Unbelievable to me but my little baby turned two last Saturday. He had a grand time despite the bloody nose he gave himself tripping and falling onto a chair and the cut he got on his finger from a pop can (which he didn't even notice but bled profusely). All the family was there and he got some great new toys which he needed. What surprised me is that he ate the entire piece of cake I gave him. Last year he turned up his nose at the cake but this year he ate the whole thing, frosting and all. And he wasn't too crabby later either. It is probably more sugar than he gets in a month. We try to give him pretty healthy stuff.
Speaking of healthy Peter also had his 2 year check up Monday. He weighs 36 pounds and is 37 1/2 inches tall - basically 100% for height and weight. He's a big boy all right! Doctor seems to think he should be saying a bit more than he does so we are going to a speech therapist in a couple weeks to make sure. He says words - but he doesn't say many so he might be just a little behind.
But without further ado I give you photos - Happy 2nd birthday Peter!

A new year

2007-01-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

I think I'll try and blow the dust off this journal again. In reading the last post it really is pretty good - I'm a better writer than I often give myself credit for. But when you only use your writings to get sales reps and district managers to do stuff they really don't want to do .. well .. you tend to lose some of those skills.

Ah work. Yes, work. I have a decent job - it pays about what you would expect for how challenging the work is that I do. It's a far cry from McDonalds but it is still by and large boring. Overall I don't mind boring - it lets me have more energy to enjoy my family - but since I'm an intelligent woman it does get to me sometimes how hideously boring my job is. But! I get to start an intership to learn how to be a business analyst. I think this will be good for me - something different than what I do and potentially move into a different position. That would be really good. The day in/day out of negotiating with an aggressive sales force does tend to get to me after awhile. And this week is particularly bad because it is quarter end. My company has it's fiscal quarters quite wonky. Our fiscal year end is the end of April. So this week is 3rd quarter close. And it is really kicking my ass this week, don't know why specifically but it is. I'm just so tired when I get home this week, it really sucks.

The 2nd baby debate still continues. I really want to have a 2nd but Shawn isn't convinced yet. He absolutely flipped out a couple weeks ago about the mere idea of me being pregnant again ... so I put the idea on hold for at least two months (as that is when I run out of birth control again). I'm HOPING after this last month of birth control I can just go off it and see what happens. I'm already 36 so I have to keep moving if I want to try. I'm ok if I don't ... but I want to try at least. Shawn has a review today so let's hope that he gets a good raise and feels we can 'afford' another kid (an argument I find totally irrelevant and pointless). Also he wants to get the family room done and has made good progress towards doing so ... but I do agree it needs to be just a bit further along before we can really start factoring #2 into the equation. We need the room and not the extra deadline. I'd like to get it sheetrocked and then get pregnant. But I can't organize the world.

But I need to end talking about my adorable 22 month old Peter. He HATES the word No right now, to the point if you tell him no about anything at all he squats right down and starts to cry. Silly munchkin. He thinks the world is out to get him or something. But when he's adorable he just soo adorable. He's really into hugs lately. He comes up to you and wants you to hold him and he puts his head on your shoulder ... makes mama melt. And he does have a handful of words. Dad is 'da-du' or 'da-da' Grandpa is 'bam-pa' or 'bam-ba' . He knows how to use 'no' correctly and does identify a few things like 'boat' and 'ball'. He talks constantly but doesn't say a lot that we completly understand. That will be coming soon though I'm sure. Our biggest accomplishment this month was what we call 'sucker management' - basically breaking off the use of the pacifier. Peter doesn't get a pacifier now when he's awake. It was bad at Christmas - he needed it all the time, especially in car rides. Right after New years we stopped that - he fussed some but seems ok with it. I let him have it at night though because 1) he isn't talking 2) he spits it out quite frequently and sleeps through the night fine and 3) I'm convinced that one day he will just decide he doesn't need it at night. I was very proud of our 'no sucker during the day' committment. What helped is that at Pam's he only got it for naps - so it wasn't that much of a stretch to get him to give it up other times. And I'll end with a photo. It snowed new year's eve so Peter had the perfect opportunity to try out his new sled. What fun!

Nothing much, really

2006-10-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Sadly another month goes by before I once again think to post. Such is life.
Peter has what we call his 'crabby' days now. He has reached an age where he knows he can do things and not do other things - and sometimes he is ok with his limitations (these tend to be nights when he's happier) and other nights he gets irritated with himself and cries a little when he can't do something (his crabby nights). He also ran a low-grade cold for about 2-3 weeks but I'm hoping we are beyond that now. The snot is the worst - it keeps coming and coming and you have to wipe it which annoys him. Otherwise 18 months sits well on him. He ADORES cousin Jack who is 4 1/2 and has Downs. I do think Peter would be speaking more but Jack has a pretty limited vocabulary and this is what Peter picks up on. But I'm not worried. He doesn't spend all his time with Jack (only 3 working days) and Peter will master languages better than Jack will. It's just the way things go. I'm so happy Peter has this experience with his cousin and also his wonderful mom (my cousin's wife) that the tiny tiny setback is worth it in the end.

Peter does have other young friends - Olivia who will be 2 at the end of the month (who does NOT like to share!) and of course cousin Carter who is a scant 5 weeks younger than Peter. I barely see the age difference between Peter and Carter anymore in terms of development - Carter did get walking down first but Peter had crawling down first etc etc. Except for size. Peter is HUGE in comparison to Carter - most people peg Peter as a two year old. But I do see the 5 month age difference between Peter and Olivia, even though they are exactly the same size right now.

And I always have to post a photo. This was taken about 20 minutes before the fall off the front step. My poor silly baby! He had mastered the idea of going backwards down the steps a long long time ago - to the point that we hardly watched him anymore. Well now that he's walking he 'experiments' with walking down the steps. Normally he is pretty cautious. But! He decides he can just walk off our concrete step onto the hard concrete walk below - without holding on to anything - and me behind him and not able to catch him. Needless to say he clobbered his head near his eye pretty good and actually got sores that bled a bit. They were pretty shallow and healed up quickly - but he does still have a bit of a scar there (you know that slightly pinky color of new skin? that sort of scar). And the crazy thing is that he did it AGAIN the next day - this time crashing onto his nose. Silly boy. Now momma is very careful to make sure that he is at least attempting to hold onto something or that I'm there to offer a catching hand. And in studying this photo I see he is going to need a haircut again soon - it is just getting too long to wash properly. He sure can grow hair! It is actually getting much less blond overall again - less exposure to sun - but is still very light and fair. I suspect he will have sandy brown hair as an adult. I didn't keep my blond hair after childhood and neither did his dad. My blond hair was more the golden variety though - Peter's is very ash blond - so maybe it will be lighter when he's older.

Trying to be more posty

2006-08-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

A journal is only as good as its updates, right? I'm actually being naughty and writing a post at work but I really just felt like writing a post at work. I am going to try and be more concious about keeping a better journal and I do think it will be easier now that we have the all powerful DSL at home (smite to dial up!). You would think that living in a Minneapolis suburb we would have all the benefits of living in a Minneapolis suburb. But no. We were (until just this summer that is) just a bit too far outside of the Minneapolis ring, living in a rather backwater, stupid community that won't allow Comcast into it's hallowed streets and Qwest felt no need to expand it's DSL out to us. But we persisted! There was a reason we moved out so far and it wasn't just the relatively inexpensiveness of our new home or the bigger lot we could get with it for the price. And now we are justified because we have DSL! Can you tell that I'm happy about this development?

The only thing that is difficult for me to deal with is that I've had my winternet email account for probably 9 years now and A LOT of people have that address and I get A LOT of stuff at it. So I don't know what to do about it going away. I told Shawn that I'd probably end up paying another month of dialup so that I can get my email account cleaned up but even after having almost two weeks to think about it I'm still drawing a blank as to how to go about it. I have no problem emailing a whole bunch of people and saying 'hey! I have a new address!' (I have to email people all day long so I have no qualms about bugging people). I'm just afraid I'm going to miss someone. Chances are it would be someone I haven't talked to for years but still. I hate losing track of people that I once knew and had a relationship with.

After a couple weeks of ... well, we shall say trying times ... with Shawn I was finally able to get my hobby started again - scanning family photos. I did break down and start scanning old photos in my family. My sister loaned me all her photos from her 'arrival' into the US. Some of them are getting very delicate because my mom had used scotch tape back in the day to get them to stick in the bad book she had bought *shudder*. So some are permanently damaged due to the tape. I also went through all the photos I've been hoarding and pulled out ones that had my sister in them - both so that I could scan them for her and also so that she could have them if she wants. This year marks her 30th 'birthday' of her arrival into the US - she joined our family on December 13th 1976 from Korea. I'm still trying to figure out if she'd like a party or not. That day is also my mom's birthday (well, not just 1976 but all years since 1941). Does one celebrate ones arrival into their adoptive family? I think my family was still so new in the adoption process (international anyway) that we did things that are probably 'wrong' today (note grain of salt). I think my sister did go through some of the identity crisis that is assoiciated with being adopted but she seems to have come out the other side a happy, well adjusted adult. Now if we can just get her butt in gear and marry her boyfriend then we will be all set. :-)

I like to post a photo. Photos are my life. Normally I wouldn't post a portrait photo but this is the best I have today. Yes his hair is that blonde. Amazing. I still can't believe he's 17 months old. Such a wonder to behold.

Wow I actually remembered my login

2006-08-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Even though I haven't posted here in so long. Bad me. Always too much going on. But that's just an excuse I know. I have a request for an updated photo of my adorable 16 month old. He has finally decided that walking is his preferred mode of locomotion. It took him forever to weigh all the possibilities of walking and make sure it was more desirable than crawling. He sometimes still forgets and drops down to his knees if he needs to go really really fast. But even in the past two weeks (I count as two weeks ago today as the day he really decided he wanted to walk everywhere instead of crawling) he has gotten faster. His steps are more sure and less 'baby steps' and even quicker.
But right now I'm working on borrowed time. I had a stress test yesterday and today (having chest pains that I can't explain) and have lost a little bit of work that I'm trying to catch up on. So I better get back at it. I'm going to get one photo for sure to post and maybe another ... we'll see.

The cutest photo ever!

2006-04-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

This photo is actually from Easter but blog has been being a pain for me and has thwarted my previous attempts to post it. I think this one of the cutest photos I've ever taken of my baby boy. Peter was born 4 days before easter last year and got a lot of stuffed rabbits because of this (I suppose part of that is the association with Peter rabbit - but his name would have been Peter if he had been born in July). So I gathered all the bunnies, put him in a chair, and snap! Here we go. Some of those are mine but the bulk of them are in fact his bunnies. I tried at first to put him on the couch but setting him on the couch is a sure-fire way to get him to bounce up - he acts like he has a spring in his butt and pratically leaps up. The deck chair worked better because he wasn't used to it so he wanted to know what it was about.

He is JUST about ready to take that first step - he can balance on his feet for about 2-3 seconds before he suddenly notices what he is doing and then has to sit down. But he crawls everywhere like a maniac and pulls himself up on everything. He's just 13 months so he's doing pretty good. I believe his rather large size (100%ile for height, 85%ile for weight) makes it just a bit tougher to get some of those motor skills down. But he does eventually.

Ok I'm going to put this photo in this post and try to submit it. This is fiscal year end day so it is a bit busy at work.

April craziness

2006-04-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

April is a bit of a challenge for me - mainly because of work. I usually don't have any free internet time to write things or reflect about my day etc. But since this is Good Friday I have decided it will be slow at work and I'm going to make time to write. I've just recently been making time again to scan photos - probably one of my favorite hobbies. Which is good because there are a loooottt of photos in my family to scan. Which I think is why I always end up scanning photos from Shawn's family first - the sheer volume of photos from my family is simply overwhelming sometimes. But I do love doing it. I feel like I'm really preserving memories that would fade and disappear if I didn't make a concrete copy of it. I got out of doing it around Christmas a bit because our scanner decided it didn't like our computer and wouldn't work. Viruses had taken over o'l big blue (as we call the main computer) and she had a through cleaning in January. This made the scanner happy too and it started to work again. I got a really good one a couple years ago and I'm still happy with its performance.

Peter's birthday was good. There were 44 people, including Peter. He did really well - only cried for real once. He gets a bit overwhelmed when so many people come at him at once. He all of a sudden conked when I was holding him about 6pm - he'd had enough. But we made chilli and had cake and everyone was very happy and nice at the party. Always a good sign. We had it at my parents house because it is so much bigger than our house - it would have been tough to have 44 people in our upstairs. Our basement isn't done yet.

Speaking of basements we did a bit of spring cleaning a few weekends ago and I was amazed at how well we got everything to fit in our crawl space. We have some things in storage that will come out once the family room is done - my books, an entire futon and frame, some other small stuff. And we have also stored some of the big 'baby' stuff under the stairs as well - for the just in case time. But those items won't be stored indefinately. If we have another child it will all be pulled out again and then used and gotten rid of at that time. My mom hung on to our crib for years only to discard it recently because it was in such bad shape. I don't plan to do that. I hope to have another child and then use the stuff and then get rid of it but if another child never comes then we will just get rid of it later. I even was able to get some baby clothes in the crawl space. We were amazed that everything fit - with room to spare - but we had it packed much more intelligently this time so that helped a lot.

I will have to end with a photo of my big boy. He had his one year appointment and he is at 85th percentile for weight (25lbs 9 oz) and 100th percentile for height (33inches) and 95th percentile for head circumfirence (don't recall the actual size right now). So he is officially a really big boy. He did well with the shots. I really like our doctor - she spends all sorts of time with us discussing his growth and development. I don't always agree with everything she says - I know my kid - but I'm amazed at how much time she will spend with us.

The photo is from his birthday - I got the sunglasses that I hope he will wear this summer and we got him that rocking bike. He is big enough for it size wise - but he still doesn't quite have the balance for it.

Long this 'n' that

2006-03-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

I often wonder if anyone reads my posts - I get so few replies. Oh well. I like to type things out so that I won't forget them.

I still do not believe that Peter will be a year old on Friday. He is such a little munchkin now - he loves to explore everything. And he loves to study things with wheels and figure out how they work. He also likes to push buttons - he loves the buttons on our TV. We have on order a TV guard that will sit in front of the buttons so that he won't be able to push them. I don't mind per se that he pushes the buttons - it is more of a matter that he will get the settings off when he pushes them. And we can't remember how they were set after the fact. We've done pretty good babyproofing the house - still a few trouble spots but overall quite good. He loves the vertical blinds and we aren't sure what to do about that - how can you get them out of the way yet still cover the window? We constantly tell him no when he pulls on them and then move him back to his toys. Bath time is a struggle too - not that he doesn't want to take a bath but trying to put clothes on him afterwards - oh boy! Watch out! I swear you would think we were torturing the child how much he whines when we try to put jammies on him after his bath time. He HATES to be flat on his back unless it is his idea.

I have to say that overall he really is a good baby. I would be worried if he was absolutely perfect. He does get trying sometimes but what 1 year old doesn't?

I think that we will try to have one other child but not until Peter is at least another 6+ months older. But I don't wish to have any more after that. Yikes. Shawn I think still would like to have just the one child but I think he is resigned to the fact that I want another - and I think he's ok with it. We will one of these days have the official 'talk' about it. You never know. I may not be able to get pregnant again - there is always that too. But I do want to try at least. I don't wish to adopt if I don't have another. Not that I'm against adoption - I just would like to have another kid or not. Let nature decide.

So I'm still working in Neuro. I committed to 6 months in the position before I can move or go somewhere else. That's ok. I have it down now for the most part and it is relatively easy and even though it can be stressful, it is definately a stress that ends when I leave for the day. That I really like. I do wish, like everyone else, that I made more money. And I'm going to seriously actively persue opportunities outside of customer service after my 6 months are up. But I'm also not too worried if nothing pans out - if I really do wish to have another kid I don't want to add a seriously stressful job on top of being pregnant and caring for one kid. That would be too much. I am happier with my current work group. Even though I loved my sales force and my product in Cardiac Surgery, my work group was getting me down. They are just so ... crabby all the time. And I really can't identify why. Now I know what was getting me down was working for 4+ years in that same environment. But most of that time it was ok because I was with a smaller group until they combine us all into one big group. Then it got bad. My boss was an idiot too - not like everyone says 'oh my boss is an idiot' - he really is an idiot. He started as manager in Jan 05, I went on leave for 12 weeks starting in March 05, I come back, find out he is an idiot. Why I mention the actual time lines is that in August 05 (8 months as manager in Cardiac Surgery) he asks me what a valve sizer is. *sigh* Valves have about 3 products - the valve itself, the accessories to do the surgery, and then a seperate product that is sold by valves but not really part of the surgery (punches and wires if you want to know). So then you have a valve, and you have sizers and handles. The sizer is what determines what size valve to use. Why after 8 MONTHS of working in cardiac surgery he didn't know this yet is beyond me. I would think you would know that after 8 DAYS. Unbelieveable. I was all too glad to leave him behind.

I'm actually kind of bored at work today which is pretty unusual. I'm getting stoked for Peter's party next Saturday and I think I'm thinking too much about what I need to get and do etc that it makes it hard to really concentrate on work. I'm off starting Thursday afternoon until Monday and then off again on the 31st for his 1 year doctor appointment. I have his 1 year portraits scheduled for this Thursday - I love portrait time. He will look sooo cute! :-) I don't plan to do a ton of portraits from now on but I still anticipate I'll do maybe 3 next year. Something like that. A gal I work with her son was born 5 days after Peter and she hasn't even done a portrait yet. I know I take some wonderful photos of Peter but nothing beats a portrait. And there are so many good, inexpensive choices these days.

Well I guess I should look busy again. I'm going to post another photo because I think he's just too cute.

More illness

2006-03-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Peter has another cold. He is doing quite well with it. But he was awake this morning at 3am not really very happy. I tried to lay him down again and normally he gets the idea that mommy and daddy are not up (not making any noise and no lights) and he normally goes back to sleep. Well with all the coughing and snot running out he didn't want to do this. So after tossing and turning for 30+ minutes I did get up and gave him some Tylenol cold and rocked him to sleep. We have this awesome glider rocker in his room that we barely use but I did use it last night. Most of the time when he's ill he really just wants to be held and reassured that he will be better. Which I'm happy to do. I also played the music CD - it was one of the first times I'd actually sat and listened to it. It is almost an hour of classical music - pretty soothing stuff like Mozart etc. My sister had given it to him. Whenever I play it he never lasts through the entire CD - he's always asleep before it ends. So we were rocking and he was sleeping so I thought it was safe to lay him down. Nope. I layed him down and he woke right up again and was whining. So I started over again. This time I made a few changes - I had his pacifier which I neglected to have the first time, and got myself a blanket for my legs. We rocked again and he finally went out around 4:30am. Which meant mommy could go back to sleep finally. Needless to say when the alarm went off at 6:15am none of us were ready to wake up yet. I reset the alarm for another hour and I managed to only be about 25 minutes late to work. So far today he seems to be doing pretty good, according to my mom anyway.

I really like that glider we have in his room. When the family room is done I look forward to putting it down there so that we can really get some use out of it. I figured I would want to feed him in his room but the reality of that situation was that it is easier to feed him in the living room. So the glider gets little use at the moment. But it is very study and silent which I like. And a nice blue pad that doesn't scream baby which is also nice.

I really can't believe his birthday is next week. Quite literally where did the time go? He is so much fun and I can't imagine my life without my curious little stinker boy. I have a big party planned for a week from Saturday at my parents house for him - a big open house with cake and presents. I just feel the first birthday is a milestone and requires a big family party. After that I won't have such a big party. His 1st year portraits are next Thursday and then his 1st year doctor appointment is a week from Friday (the 31st). Shots again - bah. He will be fine though. But I didn't want to make the same mistake I made with the 4 month shots and have him get them right before a big party. Big mistake.

It is Friday, yay! Oh other big news is that my cousin and his wife had their 2nd daughter today - Mary Catherine. This is after having a daughter who is almost 4 whose name is Margaret Mary. And my other boy cousin in that family has a daughter Rachel who is 17. So my aunt had 3 boys and now she has 3 granddaughters. Funny how life goes. :-) I suspect that if I were to have another child it would be a boy - just because my mom had 3 girls so she will probably have all grandsons. But only fate knows.

Ok guess I should work again. Weekend soon - yay!

My little hippie got his hair cut!

2006-03-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

Just a mere two weeks before his first birthday Peter got his first haircut on Saturday. He did sooo well too ... I'm rather surprised. Peter is, relatively speaking, a good boy ... but, like any baby, he does have his moments when he doesn't want to cooperate (pj's after bath time a prime example). But he just sat there smiling the whole time he was getting his hair cut. My sister's friend Stacy cut it - it helped that she was super fast at it. I couldn't believe how much hair came off - but how nice he looked afterwards. It didn't look like much hair really once it was done but there was a ton on the floor. I think that it also helped that momma was holding him and dada, grandma, and auntie Kim were sitting right across from him and smiling at him and taking photos. I believe he then thought that this haircutting thing must be ok. Plus Stacy is cute and smiling at him - he likes that. So he did really really well. I had set up his one year photo for the day before his birthday but now I wish it were sooner so that his hair isn't too grown out. It should still be ok in a week and a half. It is much easier to wash now too - not so much hair to scrub. His hair is really blond looking now too. Enjoy the blond kiddo - it will go away. Both Shawn and I had blond hair as kids and it darkened up. His isn't super blond - I know it will get darker as he gets older.

After being so sick Peter spent a week eating like a maniac ... but now he is back down to more normal levels of consumption. I could hardly keep up. I think he also hit a growth spurt after all that sickness - poor little guy. He would wake up in the morning screaming for food. Now he's much more calm again.

I was going to bring in a photo but didn't get the camera downloaded, will have to do that later. Now I must finish up work.

Computers

2006-03-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

Computers are a fun thing ... when they work properly. We recently were building a new computer to put upstairs in the kitchen area (we have our main computer downstairs in the office and we had a laptop but we just recently sold it - no time to sit around and surf like we used to). It is a shuttle box - cute, compact box - that my dad was not using and Shawn then bought parts for to go in it. First problem we had - the Western digital hard drive he got was defunct - the computer couldn't find it at all. This caused all sorts of problems Tuesday night and meant I didn't go to bed until after 1am. Shawn gets sooo mad at these things when they don't work. So Wednesday he got an rma from newegg to send that hard drive back and then we bought a Seagate from a local supplier down on campus. So this drive was recognized by the computer but THEN the stupid floppy drive we were using (which was old, why buy a new floppy drive anymore??) died completly and to get the hard drive to work it needed a boot up from the A drive. So then Shawn had to borrow a floppy drive from my dad to get the drive to work and then finally around 11pm windows finished loading.

I sound like I really know what I'm talking about there. I do ... somewhat ... but more it's because Shawn talks about it a lot and I sort of absorb stuff. So I can sound more intelligent than I am maybe? I'm a smart cookie but I'm not that smart about computers.

We plan to put this smaller computer on our island bar down at the end so that it is a bit more user friendly than the laptop is ... and also has cords out of the way for Peter to not get into. He loves cords - they are so fun to pull on! and oh boy, I can chew on them too! Actually his favorite "naughty" thing is the blinds - he loves to go and pull on the blinds for the patio door and we constantly say no but he still does it. I just keep moving him and saying no. He also thinks the bathroom is pretty nifty and has to follow us into the bathroom whenever we go in there. We have to keep all the doors shut now so that he can't go anywhere we can't see him. He got behind the couch the other night and it startled us - we could hear him but couldn't find him. Where did he go? Our couch is one of those types that has reclining ends so at the base it is out probably almost a foot - definately enough room for someone crawling to get back behind there.

I will have to end with a photo. Peter loves looking out the patio door into the bright world outside.

Stomach flu

2006-03-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

We had stomach flu run through our family last week. It was sooo much fun too. Peter and I had it last Monday - which I had taken off as a vacation day - and then missed two days of work afterwards. Shawn got it Tuesday and had it so bad that we had to do a late night run to the ER Wednesday morning (1:30am). Talk about a moment in hell. You don't do anything fast in the ER. The biggest concern was Shawn - anything and everything that he ate and drank came right back out - he was starting to get dizzy and dehydrated. But we had Peter checked out too. So they gave Shawn a shot finally to help ease the nausea which promptly put him to sleep. Peter then finally fell asleep in his stroller (which I had the good forturne to grab - otherwise I would have had to hold him the entire time). So here I sit, 3am Wednesday morning, in an ER room in an uncomfortable chair with awful lights on, no TV, nothing to read (why didn't I bring a book???), still feeling only mostly well myself. I think I was in Hell. I was glad that my boys were both sleeping and had gotten the care that they needed but once that adreline rush is over, it comes back to haunt you. And there is NOTHING comfortable to sit on. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Watched both boys sleep. It was excruciating. Then, finally, finally we get sprung just before 5am. Had to fill out a perscription for the same medication for Shawn and then we were on our merry way home. I was finally able to crash about 5:30am Wednesday morning.

The contageous rate for our stomach flu was 100% - basically everyone we came into contact got it. My nephew and sister in law both got it - we went for a visit on Monday not knowing yet we were sick - I felt so guilty and bad that they both got sick, especially since Carter had just gotten over diarhea. So I missed two days of work.

Gal I work with said she had the same thing and that next is a cold. I pah'd her saying I wasn't going to get a cold. Guess who's laughing now ... yep, that's right. I have a cold. Actually we all have a cold now. But I'd gladly take the cold anyday over the agnoizing pain of the stomach flu. that was quite possibly the worst stomach flu I've ever had. When I was in the most pain on Monday I literally wanted to die because I was in such pain. It was terrible.

Anyway. Enough whining about sickness. I think we are on the road to recovery now.

Peter can now wave bye bye without help - it is so cute to see him do it. I can't believe that his first birthday is only 3 weeks away. He is such a different baby than the infant we brought home just over a year ago.

Peter is doing better sleeping at night. I think being sick has convinced him that sleep isn't all that bad of a thing and he is pretty ok with going to bed by 9. But that may change again - it seems like it always does.

Ok I should get back to work now.

Crazy work times

2006-02-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

Wow. It has been a couple days since my last post. I'm definately more busy now in my new group - there is a lot going on. I did find out that I didn't get the education coordinator position that I interviewed for early in January - sure took them long enough to get back to me about it. sheesh. I would have LOVED that job - but it sounds like they interviewed about 4000 people for it. And not that I discredit my own skills ...

much later ....

Well true to how busy my group is that is all of a post I was able to write today. I will write more tomorrow. It's Friday tomorrow so it shouldn't be quite so busy. I hope anyway. :-)

Busy

2006-02-09T10:03:00.000-08:00

Since moving to my new group I've been busy. They have a loooot of back order issues with their product, much more than I had with my last group. But the product is very interesting and I'm glad to be doing different things with my time. I was close to the burn out stage in my old position.

Peter continues to get better at crawling. He has been practicing sitting down from a standing position rather than just falling down when he wants to sit down. He is still not very good at that but he is trying. He can also pick things up from a standing position off the floor but that one he really has to work hard it. Bedtime still continues to be a challenge. For the most part he doesn't go to bed before 10pm anymore - we used to put him down at 9pm and he'd go right out but now its more of a struggle than before.

He did do a funny thing this morning. He woke up at 4:50am which is pratically unheard of - he almost always sleeps until 6:30am which is when Shawn gets up (I get up before that). We gave him a pacifier and he was still a little upset but then quieted down pretty quickly. Since I still had an hour left to sleep I promptly fell asleep until my alarm went off. When i went to check on him, he had fallen asleep sitting upright, his head laying on the matress between his legs. And he had spit out the pacifier. It was really funny! It looked really uncomfortable. I told Shawn he had to see him. Unfortunately he decided to wake up and start crying so he moved. Normally Shawn feeds him in the morning but there was no quieting this child until he had a bottle. So I got a bit behind this morning but still only managed to be 5 minutes late to work which I find amazing. It's funny when Peter decides to rearrange our whole morning. :-)

Bedtime

2006-02-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Bedtime last night was a little better than the night before. We put a CD player in Peter's room and played a CD of classical music that my sister had given to me. I don't believe it put Peter to sleep any quicker really ... but it really did calm him down. When we'd peek in to check on him you could see him concentrating on the music. I think the kid is going to be into music one day pretty heavily. I have some talent at music ... but I never had discipline. Maybe Peter will have the dicipline to be good at music.

I found out yesterday that, even if I stayed in my current group, I would los my window seat. The IT team is moving out of our building completly and going to a seperate location - this means that customer service will be able to shift to the west in this building. Which means that the Latin America group will also shift west too - right to where Cardiac Surgery is. The area I'm moving to is pretty much stable now, no moving. I'm right next to the elevator which is no big deal. I sure will miss my window seat ... but it is so damn cold over here. I WON'T miss that. It's funny. Just before I went on maternity leave last year they had moved me to a different desk. This was before my current seat was officially a window seat (they dropped the walls down so we could see the window). I spent about 3 weeks there and then was on leave. Upon returning I spent about a week or two at that desk and then they moved me right back to where I started in this corner. I just thought that was funny. I sit at a desk for 3 years ... they move me ... I go on leave for 12 weeks ... I come back ... they move me right back to where I started.

It is amazing the crap you collect at your desk over the years too. I started going through some of it yesterday and there is so much. Stuff I have brought from old desk jobs. Pictures everywhere. I can't work without stuff to look at - I spend 8 hours in the same place, I have to have external stimuli. My husband only has about 2 photos on his desk - I don't know how he can stand it. I have photos and trinkets and cheat sheets and ... everything.

Ahhhh the joys of working in a cube farm. :-) I can't believe I've been in various cube farms now for almost a decade. I started my first 'official' cube farm job in 1997 after graduating from college (yes it took me 8 years to do that) - I processed health insurance claims. I still have one thing that I carry from that desk job - a little flower pot that one of my co-workers gave me. It has pink flowers in it that look like violets. Oh and my frog witch candle that I bought when I worked there. So thats two job locations ago. From my last job location I have a little candy jar that says "1998 Provider Service Best Year ever" with my name on it. I have it filled with various candies and gums that I have gotten - stuff I'd never eat but looks cool in there. Hmm. What else is from that job? I have a couple marketing toys from there that I bring out and play with every once and awhile. Not much else though. Most of the stuff on my desk is pretty current - there are a good 2 dozen photos of Peter, about have that of Shawn, other photos of other family members, and some other nick nack stuff. I like it. It is comfortably cluttered. I still have work surfaces though - I'm quite tidy even with all the stuff. But I think I will mix it up a bit at my new desk.

Ok time to find some lunch.

We don't like bedtime anymore

2006-02-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

Peter at least doesn't. Since he can now stand in his crib he stands up in there and whines to come out. We don't give in though. We have learned now the difference between his whining cry and his something is really wrong cry. Some nights he doesn't fight it at all but last night boy did he fight bed time. Normally I just leave him alone ... but I typically have to do a couple of 'resets' - pick him up and lay him down again as he stands and whines in the crib. Bedtime is normally around 9pm. What I find funny about the whole process is I swear to God that at 10pm a little switch goes off and he goes to sleep. At least he did that last night and I've seen him do it before. I think we are going to try a radio on low because he seems to respond to music in a calm fashion and see if this relaxes him enough to go asleep.

As for me I have moved product groups at work. I have been with Cardiac Surgery for 4 years now. I'm making the transition to Neurological products. They did some reorg stuff in Cardiac Surgery and gave me a bunch of work stuff that I don't really like to do (I'm more interested in inventory and they have me doing pricing adjustments etc as well as inventory) so I'm learning a new business unit and new products. Yay me! It isn't any raise in money unfortunately but it is back to stuff I like to do. What sucks though is that I really love some of my old valve reps. I will miss being able to talk to them on a daily basis. I've already told some of them that I'm leaving. These are people that sent me presents when Peter was born (some of them did) so I had a good rapport with these folks. I did interview for a job that was higher paying but did not hear back on it so I suspect that I didn't get it. That's ok. I am happy to move to a different product line. I will miss my window seat - I have a great view of I694 out my window and it is fun to watch the cars go by - but you can't stay doing the same work forever just because you can look out the window.

But for now I have to work with the Cardiac Surgery team for another week and a half. I train with the other team in the afternoons.

So that's the latest. Guess I should look busy again for awhile. :-)

A crawling baby in the house

2006-01-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

Yep, Peter finally figured out how to crawl. He could get around pretty good with this rolling thing he would do - lay on the floor and sort of twist his neck and head around so that he could move towards what he wanted to move towards. The thing he really learned from this manuever was how to not roll totally into things like couches and table legs - he would correct himself by rolling in place. He also learned that pretty quickly in his crib - otherwise he rolls right into the side. Then he started to do the 'army crawl' - where he would scoot across the floor on his belly but dragging himself with his arms. And he would get up on his hands and knees and rock but never get launched. All of a sudden last Sunday he took off - he was really un-coordinated at it but after a week of practice he has become really good at it. It's funny how all of these mobility 'milestones' sort of crept up in the same month. Just after New Year's he figured out how to go from a laying position back up to a sitting position. Then using that development tool he figured out the army crawl. From there he then finally mastered the crawing. And then pratically on the same day he figured out how to pull himself into a standing position in his crib. All in about a 3 week time span. I have read before that babies tend to work on one set of 'skills' all at once - and sort of let other skills they had mastered lay still while they do. This is loosly broken into motor and vocal skills. I surely observed this in Peter this month. Just after New Years Peter was very loud and vocal - he only has one real word at his disposal - ma - but he does have several recognizable noises that he makes. He also likes ga a lot. Soon after he mastered sitting up again by himself he was much more quiet - not to the point of scary and bad - but certainly not as loud and shrill as he was earlier in the month. This is when he really honed in on these motor skills. It was if his vocal ability took a back seat while he worked on the motor skills. What I've noticed now is that he is once again loud and shrill - he doesn't seem to work on the motor skills quite as hard because he feels like he got to a 'master' stage for the moment. What I read about this phenomenon is that babies brains are still so immature that they have to focus all their 'brainpower' on one aspect to the extent that others just sort of lay for awhile. I never really understood it until I watched Peter this month.

He is very fun to watch when he is concentrating hard on something. His biggest concentration sink right now is the Leapfrog Learning playground we bought him for Christmas. Now that he can pull himself up on it, he can push the buttons on top. He spends a lot of time thinking about those buttons. I do have to sit and sort of steady the toy - he is so strong that he managed to pull it on top of him the other day. He does fall down but he manages to get back up all the time.

I will have to end with a photo. I haven't had a new one in awhile. The photo I selected is our 'Burger King' - he actually wore the hat for a bit. We thought it was funny. :-)

Busy week

2006-01-27T08:25:00.000-08:00

Work is crazy this week ... hence no posts. Should be able to be more timely next week.

Peter is officially crawling now! Since about Tuesday he has been crawling. He is so funny though - he still ends up dragging the one leg a bit. But he has gotten much speedier at it. We find that if we leave the immediate area he is in he tends to follow along and try to find where we went. He did that to me this morning when I was getting ready for work - he hunted me down in the bathroom. He also does pull himself up and can stand for the most part - but hasn't mastered that skill yet. He is being a bit of a stinker about standing up in his crib when he SHOULD be sleeping - he did that last night. I wanted to say 'ooooo! you are standing up in your crib!' because that was the first time I'd seen him do it - but I was a stron parent and told him he needed to be sleeping and gently put him back on the mattress. He does still sleep through the night but he tends to think he can set when bedtime is. This is not the case - I'm mom, I set the rules for all 10 month olds in my house.

Ok unfortunately I need to work again. Just thought I'd mention I'm still alive, my problem from last week seems to have cleared itself up, and, after today, I will not be nearly as busy with work. Hopefully!

Feeling better

2006-01-20T06:52:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what to think. My tests came back negative for bladder infection but the meds do seem to be helping. I don't feel nearly as achy as I did on Tuesday. So I'm a bit concerned that it still could be kidney stones or something else. But I'm taking my meds like a good girl and hopefully everything will just clear up.

Wow I didn't get a chance to write much today. And it is almost time to leave work. Next week will be really busy at work but I will attempt to write something more meaningful on Monday.

Not feeling well

2006-01-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. I either have a bladder infection or kidney stones - regardless, I was in quite a bit of pain and went to the doctor. The test came back negative for bladder infection but they gave me the meds for it. I feel somewhat better - I did come in to work - but I'm afraid it may be the kidney stones. Bah. The pain meds are helping - but the last time I had this happen they helped immensly, not just slightly. So I guess I'll see how it goes. I should have stayed home sleeping and sent Peter off to daycare (which is where he is) but I had some meetings I wanted to go to so I opted to come in.

With my visit to the doctor last night and waiting around for perscriptions to be filled we didn't start heading home until 8pm - which meant that Peter completly conked in the car for a half hour. Which then means he thinks he doesn't have to go to bed at 9pm. He was up until after 10pm, little stinker. Of course then he didn't want to get up in the morning. he takes after my husband - likes to stay up but not go to bed at night. Actually that is only sort of true. If he has his regular naps when he normally does he goes to sleep about 9pm just fine. But if he gets any sort of evening nap then he thinks he can stay up late. He has also just figured out lately that mom and dad are watching tv in the other room while he is in his room - he isn't much of a whiner but he does complain that he is by himself. It's funny though because he will whine and then all of a sudden fall silent - which means he is asleep.

I don't know if I will make it through the day ... pain is getting to be more again. Still have another meeting to go to though - can't decide until after that. So I have to get going to it.

2006-01-16T06:50:00.000-08:00

Today is a holiday in the US - MLK day. This year, for some reason, my company is officially 'closed' for the day - which means me as an hourly worker gets paid triple overtime to be here all day. Go me. So hopefully it will be quiet today. I say that every day and then it gets crazy busy in the afternoon. Oh well.

Hours later ....

I guess I didn't get this posted in a timely fashion. It also hasn't been quiet. And I have a horrific headache. The good news is that I get to leave an hour early tonight - yay me!

I can't believe what a good little boy my son is. We spent 3 hours in a nursing home yesterday and he was just an angel. As much as a busy 9 1/2 month baby can be an angel. He did finally get fed up and tired at the end of the visit but since we had an hour drive home he just snoozed all the way home. Shawn's grandma is recooping in a nursing home in St Cloud and we visited her and some other relatives that were there. Of course Peter was the best part. But I'm biased of course.

Friday!

2006-01-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

I love Fridays. They always start out with such bright optimism and promise - this is the last day of work for two full days! what could go wrong?? Work itself is usually either highly boring (to the point where I have ants in my pants) or highly busy and unusual. I don't know yet what sort of Friday I will have but I've only had one call in 20 minutes so I'm hoping towards the boring.

Oooo. I just recalled that it is Friday the 13th. I was never a big one for superstitions about these sorts of days - probably because my mom and uncle were both born on 13ths so when their birthday was on a Friday it was a no big deal thing. Shawn and I talked about it earlier in the week and then I completly forgot until I looked at the date right now.

So I heard the same day as the interview that I didn't get it. To me that makes it seem like they had someone handpicked for the role. The guy they picked is a great candidate and I wasn't even that upset about the whole thing. But I got the goofiest feedback I've ever gotten from an interview. The manager said (and these are her exact words) that I am very bright BUT I'm not nuturing enough to be a supervisor. Er. Ok. I asked Shawn what he thought of this statement and he agreed that it is really weird. My husband and son seem to think I'm pretty damn nuturing so I'm not sure how she thinks I'm not. And to be a supervisor you need to 'nuture' employees. That sounds like coddling to me. This manager is the same woman that hired my supervisor from hell that I had a couple years ago. There isn't a nuturing bone in her body. All I can do is shake my head.

I am considering moving to a different product within my same department. I do need a change. I have been working with this same product for nearly 4 years now and I'm just about at the burn out with it. Plus they changed my whole department around and I'm not completly comfortable with the changes. I love my old valve reps ... but I don't get to work with them exclusively anymore. Which sucks. I would love dearly to get out of this department and someday I think I will but it might be a bit yet. I did interview recently for another position in the company but not in my department. I haven't heard back from that one yet.

Our neighbors across the street from us are selling their home. We think it is because they can't afford it anymore. This was confirmed a little more last night. The guy in the couple (it is a guy, gal, 3 kids, one a month younger than Peter, 3 rottweiler dogs (huge), and more cats than I can count) was out in his garage yelling quite loudly into the phone about how he can't afford gas for the car and how he can't get a job and how he can't afford a new headlight blah blah blah. It was kind of scary actually. We are very glad to see them leave the neighborhood. They have a terrible yard which they work on quite diligently but still looks like trailer trash live there. I can't believe they brought another child into the world. I never fully understood before the idea that the children are harmed in such a family dynamic until I became a parent. I mean, of course I understood the IDEA but it really hit me in the head now that I care directly for someone who can't care for himself yet. I especially feel bad for the little girl who is a little younger than Peter. why oh why did they feel they needed to bring another child into the world? I just don't understand it.

Ok moving on. It is a bright, sunny winter day. I do have to say that I really like where my desk is and if I moved I probably wouldn't have such a nice view. I have a great view of I694 right out my window which is kind of fun. I've actually been sitting at this desk for many years now but they just dropped the wall down so I can see out the window. Pretty neat. I want it to be spring already but it is only mid-January. Lots of winter left in Minnesota.

Ok I should find something to do now.

Santa Baby!

2006-01-11T06:35:00.000-08:00

Here is my Santa Baby. What was the cutest thing about this is that he would wear the hat no problem - he didn't pull it off his head. I think he's going to be a ham someday. We would sing 'Santa Baby' to him all through Christmas. He loves it. We got him this new toy - the Leapfrog Learning Playground - and there is this song that plays and it gets stuck in my head. I'm not going to repeat the lyrics otherwise they will stay there all day. I like all of his silly toys and all the sounds and songs they play. I know a friend of ours gets very annoyed with his daughter's toys (she is only 5 months older than Peter) but I find them fun. When ever in your life is it acceptable to sing 'Fuzzy! Fuzzy wuzzy!' at the top of your lungs except when you have a young son around? And he seems to enjoy our interaction with the toy. The point is that you can't be trying to watch something important on the TV when you have toys being played with - wait until after he has gone to bed. At least that's my feeling. Peter is spoiled though - he has a TON of toys. We tend to watch DVD's of the Dukes of Hazzard when Peter is up because it is easy to tune in and out and it is pretty benign. Peter only sort of watches TV anyway right now. You know, I read somewhere that children under the age of 2 should not be allowed to watch ANY TV. Ummmmm ... ok. In a perfect world that would be super but I would like to see one 'regular' American family that has achieved this. Perhaps I just like TV too much. But I figure the shows Peter gets exposed to (Dukes, TLC construction shows, some kids programming) can't be causing much damage to him. But maybe I'm naieve. Ok moving on.

I interviewed for a supervisor internship today. This means that if I were to get it I would work as a supervisor for 3+ months at the same pay I get right now with the potential of becoming the real supervisor with real supervisor pay at that time. Go me. The best part about it is that it is 4 10-hour days a week. That would rock. But I'm so ready for a change. I've been with this company for 5 years this January, almost 4 of that with this particular team so it is time. I have interviewed for other jobs within the company and they always seem to pan out. Hmmm. Maybe I should brush up on my interviewing skills or something.

Back to work for now. It is soooo busy right now. Quarter end is at the end of January (part of having a fiscal year that ends in April is that quarters end at funky times) and it is already busy. Plus a reorg - is there any company anywhere that isn't going through some sort of re-org? So I must look busy again for awhile.

Peter's coming to lunch!

2006-01-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

My mom is bringing Peter down to have lunch with me today ... yay me! I love when she brings him down when I'm at work. Often I will bring him upstairs at work but there won't be time today - that's ok, I still get to see my little darling anyway. And mom too of course. :-) I really don't mind being a working mommy - I enjoy my time with adults as much as I enjoy my time with my son - but these little 'treats' make it even more worthwhile to work all day.

His 9 month photos are as cute as I remember when we ordered them. I still think my favoritest portrait is his 4 month one. He still looks soooo small .. but he has just the biggest grin you have ever seen on his face. Unfortunately my scanner is broken (or at least is being very stubborn) and it will be awhile before I get the 9 month portrait scanned. Actually, I am very good about not publishing his portraits. I do scan them ... but more for permanence rather than for sharing with others. If that makes sense. For instance ... for Christmas I had my dad take a family photo of us rather than just copy the one we got in September. Both my sister in laws made photo cards from their family portraits they had done and I just feel wrong doing that. Must be those 2 years of photography making me feel guilty about copyrights.

Peter is trying so hard to pull himself up on stuff. He sits and studies his target ... then he gets a grip on it ... and then pulls. What he hasn't figured out yet though is what to do with his legs. He definately has the upper body strength but doesn't know what position to put his legs in. And he really wants to stand up. I was sitting on the floor last night behind him and he was standing at this toy we bought him at Christmas. He stood pretty good - he didn't bob his knees - but he was definately leaning on me for support. It's funny he doesn't get mad - he just sits there and really thinks about what he wants to do next. Just an amazing creature. You can just see him thinking as he is sitting there.

Ooo! Almost lunch time, have to go for now!

I forgot

2006-01-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

I forgot to title my post today ... whoops. Oh well. :-)

2006-01-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well we bought a bed this weekend. We had been talking about it for about a year. It had been on the 'financial foreground' for this spring - we are going to use tax money for it - but we actually found a deal too good to pass up. A $1300 Serta bed floor model on sale for $650. Yep we got it. The idea that it had been poked and prodded for almost 2 years on the Hom showroom floor doesn't really bother us that much. What do you think happens on those hotel beds when you don't use them? At least here people only lay down for several minutes and move on. God only knows what happens in hotel rooms. Anyway. We get it delivered next Saturday. It is really soft which I like. Peter enjoyed rolling around on it while we discussed our options. I would set him in the middle of the bed, he would get down on his belly, swim toward the plastic protector they put at the foot of the bed, sit up, giggle, pull on the plastic until I would move him to the center again, repeat. But at least he was happy to be doing it. I have found that generally speaking he can entertain himself quite well. He does tend to get overexcited and then likes to yell at the top of his lungs which is pretty annoying. We are starting to say 'no!' when he does that because it is really ear-splitting loud. I think he is starting to get the idea when we are displeased with some of his actions. It is hard to tell because normally he just grins at us.

He likes to roll around now when we change him - diaper and clothes. Clothes in particular are challenging. And he is so strong! He still tends to behave with the diaper change - more or less - but clothes he just starts to roll and giggle. Or he does this mid-twist and wants to be held while putting on his clothes. Now that one is tricky because you have to control a twisting baby which is an ackward position and then get clothes on him. He did this the other day after his bath. He was done sitting still and wanted to be off the counter top. Unfortunately mommy was still trying to put jammies on and he kept twisting towards me.

So is it nuts to already be planning my son's 1 year birthday party in my head? It is on March 23rd which seems awfully close to me. We have even discussed how the party will 'work' - to me a first birthday is a big deal. I want to invite a lot of relatives. After that I don't think it needs to be such a big ordeal. But this first one is quite the milestone. I think I'm just too organized sometimes. :-)

I see there is a feature above to post a photo. Let's see if it works, shall we?

Hey! I think it did, yay me! The photo is of Peter and 'me' - when I call and talk to my mom on the days he is at my mom's, she will put me on speakerphone and he either smiles or stares at the phone, trying to figure out why mom is in such a small box. Mom says it is so funny to watch him react to the phone.

Ok I have to work now. I'm picking up Peter's 9 month portraits at lunch today - yay! Just a run to JCPenneys but it should be worth it. For how often I take his photo I LOVE portraits - they are so formal and just ... nice ... keepsakes. I've been a good girl and haven't done his portrait a ton of times but I have had it done frequently. But they are so nice. :-) Later!

My first post!

2006-01-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

Hey it is my first post on my electronic diary! Now that I created this I'm not entirely sure what I would like to talk about right now. But I'm sure I will come up with something. Maybe talk about why I wanted to create this? I have a son who is 9 months old, almost 9 1/2 now, and I find that I want to talk about him and share how wonderful he is but perhaps most people do not wish to know about my son. So I figured if I talk about him at my site, then I won't be boring anyone who might not be interested. So I guess I will talk about him a little bit now. His name is Peter and he is the cutest baby ever! Ok, yes yes I'm biased ... but he is pretty cute. And very happy. I'm always amazed at how happy he is. Not that, in general, I'm not happy - I tend to run very calm and just neutral - but he is happiness in a 23 1/2 lb package. And he is a big boy! Always in the 90th percentile for height and weight. But he isn't fat - unlike his mama who is perpetually on a diet. As soon as I have all this stuff figured out I will even put up a photo of my beautiful son.

So yesterday my son finally figured out how to sit up on his own - and then he kept practicing and practicing. Unfortunately that meant that we had to do a sudden emergency crib lowering last night. We put him to bed as normal and he discovered that the bars make a handy way to pull himself up. Well Shawn was worried that he would pull himself over the top and, after watching him a couple times, I agreed. So I put him in our bed with the vain idea he might settle down enough to fall asleep (ha!) and we quickly lowered the mattress all the way down to the bottom. It will be awhile now before he could really fall out of the crib!

Peter was then put back to bed which he wasn't too happy about. He figured he was awake now and bedtime didn't apply anymore. But he soon gave up and was asleep by 10:30pm or so. Only to wake up crying his heart out at 11pm. Did I mention he is by nature very happy? It was the most startling thing. He was crying with his eyes closed tight and just sooo upset. We gave him a bit of bottle and tylenol and he dropped back to sleep while I rocked him. I was afraid he was getting sick and would wake up again but he slept all the way through to when we wake up in the morning to commute to work/daycare. And he was all smiles again this morning. I think he must have had a bad dream - he just wanted to be reassured we were here and cuddle. Unlike my son. But I was willing to oblige and he fell asleep quite quickly once he had calmed himself down.

So there is my first post - yay me! I tend to have to use internet at work because my house has dialup still so I may not be able to write anything more until next week.