Playroom Update!

I started on Austin’s playroom about a year ago when I was still on maternity leave and hadn’t really done much with it since. I finally decided to make it a priority last weekend and am super-excited about it. We decided to paint the back wall ‘guacamole’ color to go along with the whole jungle them. And then I made a giant tree over the windows. I got all ‘Handy Mandy’ with a jigsaw and sheet of plywood, cutting it out in the shape of the top of a tree. Then added padding and upholstered it, and mounting it above the window was interesting. Then I painted the tree trunk down the middle of the windows. We added a few touches here and there. We still have a few more things we want to do with it, but it’s coming along quite nicely. Austin definitely loves to play in his tent!

We have a Walker!

When I used to think about what my kid(s) would be like, I imagined they would be advanced, the first to do everything. Well……not so much. Austin began walking behind his toys and along the furniture right before 10 months. I thought for sure it wouldn’t be too much longer before he would finally let go and take off. We waited, and waited, and waited. Night after night we would try to make him stand up and walk a few steps between us. That stubborn kid just didn’t WANT to walk, that’s all there was to it. He would much rather crawl at a super-fast pace to get where he needed. I had resigned to the fact that he would be crawling to kindergarten. Then two weeks ago, we had stopped over at my mom’s new apartment one night after dinner to visit. We stood him up between us, and he just took off! Quickly I reached for my purse to grab my handy new FLIP HD video camera we got for Christmas (thanks, Mom!) to try to capture this moment. And I did!! He was so proud of himself and his newfound independence. When he walks around the house, he has the biggest smile on his face, and it makes me so happy! But now he is into EVERYTHING!! Last weekend, Katrina and I were working on the playroom (see next post) and I had the big ladder out. I turned around and he had already climbed up three rungs! He’s a brave little boy, with no fear whatsoever.

I have been saying for months now, that once Austin started walking, I would take him to Chuck E. Cheese. Well, once another snowstorm hit the Dallas area which closed school and work, I was desperate to get out the house. So, I took him to Chuck E. Cheese and had fun for 2 ½ hours on $10. Pretty cool. Well, the next night was when he started walking. I guess he turned it around on me and said ‘Mom, you take me to Chuck E. Cheese and THEN I’ll walk!’ Oh, that little stinker’s going to be some trouble!

Sick Little Boy!

January was a rough month for sickness in our house. One week he was sent home with a fever from school, and no other symptoms. I thought it was just from teething and even had him checked out at the doctor’s office. After going back two days later, he broke out into a rash. Come to find out he got ‘hand-foot-mouth disease’. I had no idea what this was and relied on my good friend Google to help me out. So back to school on Monday we go. He started running a low-grade fever mid-week, but I sent him anyways (Bad Mommy!). Well, the daycare called. With 102 degree fever, coughing, terrible runny nose, and goop coming out of his eyes, they wanted that kid out of there, in a nice way of course. Jordan ran him to the doctor, and he was diagnosed with RSV. YIKES!! Okay, this is serious; I’ve heard it can develop into pneumonia if not treated promptly. So, now we get to do breathing treatments every 4 hours. No fun at all! Poor little guy, just didn’t want to sit still for 10 minutes with that stupid thing. Eventually we found a method that works, which included lots of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a cell phone, and Mom & Dad taking some hits off of the breathing treatment as well. After alternating days to stay home with him, we were finally given the thumbs up to go back to school. And he’s been well ever since, knock on wood. I’m a little late on getting him to his 15-month checkup, but I’m taking him next week.

Work, Work, Work, all day long.......

While on Christmas break, I had to make a tough decision. Knowing what the upcoming months at work could be like, I finally made the decision to go part-time at the first of January. I had already discussed it with my performance partner before Christmas and finally made it official upon my return from Christmas break. We had to literally list out all our bills to see if we could actually afford me taking a 25% paycut. Ughhh, it hurts to even type it. L In my profession, especially this time of year, they can only be so flexible. We are of course, providing a client service, so their needs ultimately come before ours, generally speaking. Going 75%, a few adjustments were made to my client load and it gave me more leverage to work from home in the evenings and on weekends, rather than being at the office until 10pm. It definitely has its days; some are crazier than others. I haven’t quite made my mind up yet, if taking a 25% paycut is worth still putting in 55 hours for the week. They say it evens out during the ‘non-busy times’, so I’ll reserve judgment until then. Since this is my first year as a manager and a new mom, I kinda have a double-whammy against me. It’s definitely been the toughest so far. New clients, new partners, new staff, new responsibilities, oh and that family of mine at home. I have been surprised at certain people who have been more supportive in my work/life balance initiative than I would have originally thought, so that’s nice.

Holiday Fun!

Okay, I have been TERRIBLE at updating this blog lately. Here it is almost March, and I haven’t even updated on Christmas yet, my apologies. Geez, it’s been so long since Christmas, I hope I can remember all the details. I was able to enjoy two whole weeks off work, which was really nice. My Nana (Austin’s GiGi) came in from NH to stay with us over the holidays as well. Between Nana, my sis who lives with us, and my Mom (who stayed with us for a few months during her divorce), we definitely had a FULL house to say the least. Oh poor Jordan, with 3 generations of women in the house. But we had a great time and enjoyed time with family.

After Nana came into town, the next night we ventured out to Prairie Lights to drive through the lights and hang out. Since it was the week of Christmas, it was a crazy wait out there to say the least, but totally worth it. Austin had a wonderful time, and good thing we packed a sandwich and snacks for him in the car. We spent Christmas Eve with Jordan’s family in Arlington. Due to the snow storm that hit Texas that day, we decided it best not to venture out to go to church (Lord, please forgive me.). We had a great time munching on delicious food, opening presents, and hanging out. Christmas morning was pretty relaxed at home. Austin wasn’t really into opening his gifts, really just more interested in the boxes, tissue paper, and packages. It was a pretty relaxing day; we went non-traditional with Christmas lunch this year: Mexican-style. We made chicken and beef fajitas, rice, beans, sopapilla cake, and homemade salsa. Pretty delicious!

The next day was Katrina’s birthday, which we celebrate by going to eat more Mexican food (Sorry, Nana!) and heading out to the local bar for some adult beverages and music afterwards. New Year’s Eve was pretty mellow as well. We stayed home, watched movies, and had some drinks. The next day we took Nana to do something we knew she would enjoy….gambling. We drove 1 ½ hours up to the Choctaw casino and gambled away a little bit of money. Then before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to Nana, send Austin back to daycare, and head back to work for my first busy season as a mom. It’s crazy how fast two weeks off can fly by.