Fall is here 2012

The summer is officially over and school buses are back out in the morning and I am going back to work! Boo! Brody is now four months (as of Oct), 16 pounds already can you believe it! Maycen is settling into her roll as Big Sister and Jared and I are settling into some new roles for us.  I had my other hand surgery done at the beginning of September for my Carpel tunnel release affording me a few more precious weeks at home with the kids.  Jared's Counter Drug job is ending and he is using up all of his leave from his job over the next month so we are both home and he has been helping me out tremendously with all the cares with the kids, all the meals and daily house chores. I at least can still breastfeed Brody and play and entertain Maycen but otherwise I am pretty useless at least the first few weeks till my hand heals up. 

I truly have an appreciation for Bethany Hamilton, she lost her arm by a shark bite in Hawaii when I was living there and made news of her recovery and future surfing success single handed!  Truly amazing considering I couldn't even pull up my pants the first week.  I had to go back into my maternity clothes just so I could be dressed.  I think it would have been really challenging if I was back at work right away and trying to get ready and help with the kids in the first few weeks, so it has been a blessing having Jared home!

The other nice thing is he is seeing just how much goes on while he is away at schools, training and his usual busy flying season.  He said the other night it just never ends, there is always so much to do!  I said yes it is never ending, and was thinking to myself now add in no body here to entertain the kids or feed the baby or add in trying to pump and cleaning supplies and getting daycare and work bags ready and meals for the sitter to give, organized...but I withheld my thoughts as I know he is finally getting it!  The nice thing is he seems to be doing really good with it all!  Maybe not doing the daycare at home thing how I would want, but he is trying and overall doing a great job, maybe even more efficient than me honestly!  :)

October 2012-
Jared is job searching and picking up hours at the National Guard facility while I am back at work still part time, I will pick up more in the next few weeks if he doesn't get put on some kind of orders.  Jared is working on one of his last classes for his degree, one more left!  I am working on admin till my hand improves enough for me to safely care for a patient.  So far this has been OK at work because our census is low but with flu season approaching that may change.  My hand is getting better the cut is finally closing up, as I had a stitch break open leaving the wound to heal more open.  I am hoping to start PT in October but waiting till our new insurance kicks in.

Fall makes me think of school and I am a little sad that because Jared is not working we are not needing to have Daycare.  I am happy that my kids are at home, but Maycen loved her classmates and teachers. Being away all summer was a nice break but she does miss them and I think the interaction with regular friends was nice. She was very confident in herself and really enjoyed the sing songing and play/learning time there.  I try to do some of this on my off days bring out all my old school kids songs but Jared really doesn't get into that much and now that he is home 24/7 it is a little hard for me to be my goofy kindergarten self...in front of him!  I have a horrible voice, Maycen never seemed to mind but he might:)!!!  

I tried to re-in cooperate Friday Night Dance night the other day when we were all home this was something silly I would do with Maycen while Jared was away we would turn up the radio loud and dance and be silly pretend like we were singing along and Maycen would run around, dance and jump on the sofa, (not normally allowed) anyway it felt a bit different and I don't think Jared really knew what we were doing and dragged Maycen off to bath time halfway through, which of course left her in a melt down!

Little Brody- or really I should say Big Brody!  He is a doll and I currently feel like if all babies were like him I would have more!  He is happy and calm so far, he really only gets upset every once in a while like if I yell upstairs to maycen while I am feeding him he has a meltdown or mostly right before its time to go down to sleep and if you waited to long to feed him when he wakes up.  I hate that he's grown so fast, I haven't been able to dress him in all his cute outfits!  However the poor little guy we are so much more relaxed with him or maybe its my husband being at home he usually stays in his outfit for a few days.  He rarely spits up or poops out of his clothes so sadly we keep him in till bathtime every 2 days about.  At night, we pull of any uncomfy cloths and he sleeps in his swaddler blanket.  We haven't used his sleepers much.  This is mostly because he is then ready to go and not in a sleeper if we need to get out and going in the morning...I still can't dress him very well with my hand and all.

Brody is talking and smiling and trying to roll over...hasn't happened yet!  He holds his head up well and is starting to sit in his chair.  He breastfeeds really well every 3-4 hours and takes his bottle while I am away and I am lucky that I have enough mile right now stored but I also am producing enough for the next day too.  I usually put him down between 9 and 11pm and he wakes around 6 to8 am.  So not bad!  Not having to do the Daycare drop off and get everyone ready and out the door is such a blessing especially in these early months where guilt just ate me up with Maycen.  I've only called Jared once a day to see how its going!

I think that is the update for now, we are getting ready for Halloween, our lives are ever up in the air waiting for the next Military career move.  It changes almost weekly now!  But we are here in Washington for a while.  If every summer was like this last one it would be one of our top picks!  We were truly blessed to have the time together this summer with all the nice weather and welcome a new family member all at the same time.  Now, please send prayers that Jared finds work soon and it will be a job that won't keep him away for the next 5 years till retirement!

Just as I posted this update about Brody he rolled over later that day 10/11/12! Must have been all those rollos I ate at work the day before...lol.