Busy, but Oh So Blessed

We have had a fabulous weekend. We have been very busy, but also had a wonderful relaxing time. We started the weekend out with dinner out to eat with out best friends at Copeland's. The food was yummy, the company was great, and Baby L behaved him self like a perfect gentleman (except for all that drooling he does). He was officially sitting up by himself and staying up pretty steady on Friday. Then, we have spent the rest of our weekend waiting, encouraging, coaxing, and obsessing with his being on the cusp of another milestone: crawling. Go here if you want to see picture of him almost in action!

Saturday night I had a girls night with mom and Brooke, oh and Baby L tagged along too. We had dinner, then went to see The Time Travelers Wife. On this night the company was great, L was well behaved, but the movie was a bust...I do not recommend it! D-U-M-B, DUMB!

Church this morning was phenomenal. I feel so blessed that we get to be apart of a body of people loving and worshiping God so boldly. Summit is an amazing place, and I am so proud to be a member of this church. I love the people I go to church with, and the home we have in this place.

After church we came home and got our dogs, then went to join mom and Galen out at the dog park to let the dogs play and visit for a while. After being out there for a little over an hour we came back home, then Steven and L took a three hour nap while I graded a stack of papers. I got a lot of grading done, but not nearly all of it. Then this evening after dinner and putting Baby L down to bed, I went grocery shopping.

Like I said, busy weekend.

"He has what?!..."

On Sunday afternoon Baby L awoke from his nap with a little bit of "sleep" in the corners of his eyes (aka: eye boogies). No biggie, wiped his eyes, moved on. Then Monday morning he woke up with a bit more, even some crusting. Still not overly worried. Tuesday morning his eyes are matted shut and we have to help him pry his eyelids open. Now, a little concerned...
Pick him up from daycare at about 3:45, and we go to visit grammy at her new Walgreens store in Maumelle. I mention his 'eye boogie' problem to her and she immediatly tells me he has pink eye. "I'm not so sure, his eyes aren't pink.." I say in return. "Doesn't matter, if his eyes are getting matted as he sleeps, he has an infection of the conjunctiva," she tells me. I ask, "any chance it will clear up on its own?" She stiffles a laugh.
Grrrr...its so early in the school year for me to miss a day already...then I remember his doctors office, GPC at ACH has extended hours, until 9 pm daily. So I call and get then to work him in. We get an appointment at 7 pm.
Mom, L, and I hand out for a while. Then we go grab a bite of dinner. Then make our way to GPC. Its busy, way more so than it ever is when I've taken him to a day time appointment. We wait, for like an hour, but not a big deal really, because L is in a good mood and playing with us, and mom and I just visit.
We go back and a physician comes in right away. She looks at his eyes and agrees he will need to be treated for a bacterial infection. She wants to go ahead and look him over while we have him in...good thing she did, because she proceeded to discover that his left ear is infected, and he has a resperatory infection. Lovely.
So we eventually made it back to a Walgreens pharmacy, to pick up L's 3 perscriptions. He is on oral antibiotics 2x a day for 10 days, 2 drops of antibiotic eye drops in each eye, 4x a day for 5 days, and albuteral inhaler breathing treatments every 4 to 6 hours for 3 days, then prn.
Jeez! And I was annoyed when I thought he had just pink eye I was going to have to treat!

A little of this, and a little of that...

I have been so busy since the beginning of school, I have hardly had time to think about posting. I do have lots to share, like the beginning of what looks like a fabulous year in the making. My students seem really great, they are so engaged, I am really enjoying them so far (minus a couple of too silly, off task boys, but I think I'll be able to refocus them once our routine is well established). The days are flying by, I'm hardly making it through my lesson plans, but its always this way a the beginning...I just forget that year to year.

I left school by 3:15 today so I could run by the grocery store and pick up a few things, and still get Baby L home with plenty of time to play and enjoy. I made dinner this evening, and even whipped up some more baby food. Tonight I made Peach, Mango, Pineapple puree. Yum-O! L had some for dinner, and then I froze the rest in ice cube trays to store.

What a productive day I had...especially for a Monday!

This weekend was fabulous too. Saturday my wonderful husband let me sleep in, until 11 am! Hootey Hoo for a hubby who gets up with the baby and entertains him so mommy can catch up on her zzzzzs. Then Saturday we just lazed around the house and enjoyed all of each other company. Sunday was a busy day at church, as usual. We are so excited about the new chapter our wonderful church is about to embark on...and of course teaching our sweet toddlers Sunday School is a blessing as well. Then immediately following church, Mom and Galen came to pick up Baby L to babysit for the afternoon. Steven and I then went our to a leisurely lunch, then made a Sam's run. Then we went home and hit the ground running scrubbing. Our house was seriously getting pretty gross. Lack of time to clean, as well as having our arms full of a busy body baby has kept us from keeping up with the house keeping as well as usual. So we spent like 2 1/2 hours cleaning like mad people, cleansing our home of its filth. Now its so clean you could eat off the floor...well, not the kitchen floor, it was swept, but I ran out of time and haven't mopped it yet...but you get the idea, the house is nice and clean again, just the way I like it. I also did 4 loads of laundry this weekend, to completion, wash, dry, fold, put away. I wish I could say I was now fully caught up on laundry, but I am afraid that that is an impossibility. No matter how hard and fast I was, the dirty clothes, towels, blankies, etc just keep on coming!

Now, I wanted to share with you my favorite part of my day. Its each afternoon, after I have left school, crossed the river bridge, navigated the red lights on Maumelle Boulevard, and am turning into here:

Because this:

is where I go to get him.

3 days down...

Well, we have just ended the first week of school, which was only 3 days long! AND its a good thing because apparently I lost some of my stamina over summer break because I am E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D! My feet hurt, my eyes are sore, and I am having trouble thinking straight...
Honestly though...I'm excited about next Monday! I really like my class so far, they seem like a fabulous group of kiddos, and I have truly enjoyed them so far.
Only bad thing about being back at work (besides the tired, over-wrought feeling) is missing Baby L. I did take him to daycare a little this summer, so it wasn't completely shocking to be away from him this week, but it was WAY, WAY more than I am used to. I came home one night and carried him all over with me because I was just in need of cuddle time with him, I even ate dinner holding him (when I didn't have to, he would have been perfectly content in the bumbo, saucer, or even with toys on the floor...).
My house is a mess, I have dead baby frog carcasses on my living room floor, and not the energy to get rid of them tonight. I am praying for rest and revitalization tonight, so I will be able to pick things up around here tomorrow...I mean I would hate for the baby to eat a little dead frog (thanks to our two trusty frog hunters: Oliver and Mandy) that I failed to remove from his path. :) ----I'm only playing of course....sort of.

Wordless Wednesday

Contentment

Gosh...I didn't mean to let so many days go by without posting. Sorry about that, its not for a lack of getting on to blogger enough, I get on several times a day to read and such, I just haven't felt like I've had much to say. Life is cruising along peacefully and I've just been content. No real highs or lows stick out that I've felt were blog-worthy material waranted sharing.

Let me see...hmm...oh yes, an update on my step-sister. Lauren did get forced into rehab last week by my mother with threats of taking legal action over items stolen from my parents home by Lauren while she was strung out. She went into a 7 day detox at Bridgeway, then was supposed to be in day treatment for 3 months, M-F, 8-5. This wasn't quite what we wanted, we hoped for a full time treatment facility for her to best protect the baby growing inside her from her destructive behaviors, but this was better than nothing. Well, my parents were away on holiday this past week so I heard no new news. Then, while catching up with mom this weekend she has told me that Lauren says she was discharged by the doctor at Bridgeway after only about 24 hours because she wasn't actively using at the time she was admitted. Then, according to her, he put her on a less monitored treatment plan of day tretment just 3 days a week, and told her to make 90 meetings (AA) in 90 days. Needless to say we are none too happy about this. Mom spoke with her and told her she needs to find a residential facility to be treated at. She says she has already paid for and committed to what she is doing for at least the next 3 months. Things were just kind of left at that. As much as we all WANT to believe her and hope she really is committed to this new plan, its hard to put a lot of faith in Lauren's words because she has beening doing this same crap over and over for over 10 years now. I hope for the good of the baby that she ois staying clean, at least for the next 32 weeks, until the baby is born. But I am still of course praying for God's divine protection over this baby, that He act at a filter still in the unbilical cord connecting the baby to Lauren to only let god things flow from mom to fetus, that God prevent this baby from being hurt by Lauren's bad choices.

What else...school is just about here. Kid's return this Wednesday. Teachers are already at work, going to meetings, and working like mad women persons trying to get ready for the students invasion return. I am missing Baby L during the days when I'm away from him, but I am enjoying getting back into a routine. Summer break is a nice time to chill, but a return to structure is always good too...I saw this now at least...we'll see how I'm feeling after I meet my new class Wednesday...:) all joking aside, I'm looking foward to it!

Guess that's it for now!
PS: sorry for mistakes and typos (worse than usual), I have been typing this post on my blackberry, while in the bathtub...yes return to work and routines means a return to multitasking as well!

Grrrr....

For some reason a post I started on a few days ago and just published today is showing up out of place. Its below the zoo post, which is now dated Monday, but was published on Sunday....not sure why, but scroll down to see my newest post about Baby Products.

A day at the Zoo

Well, as morning at the zoo at least!
Saturday morning, when we all woke up, at about 8:30, Steven suggested we take Baby L to the zoo. I was of course game, I love going to the zoo. I just love seeing all the animals!

So we headed out, we arrived at the zoo at about 9:30. And upon entering we were informed that the featured presentation about birds, called Winged Wonders, was beginning in the amphitheater shortly, so we headed over. This presentation was pretty cool, they showed us over 10 different types of birds, and gave lots of interesting facts about them, and the majority of them were trained to fly from trainer to trainer, so they flew over the audience during the presentation, which was really cool!

We walked all over the zoo after the show, the Little Rock zoo has been being redone over the last several years, its nearly done, and its really nice. Very different than it used to be, I actually got turned around and confused about where we were at one point, which is weird for me, so it really is different. I didn't take lots of pics of animals, but I got a few good ones of the lions, and, my favorites at the zoo, the giraffes.

To see some more pics, with Baby L at the zoo, go here.

Favorite Baby Products

I decided to do a post all about what my life has been about the past several months....babies! Specifically baby products that make taking care of a baby easier, more fun, more safe, more efficient, etc...



My first pick is a product I mentioned on my other blog recently. Its Baby L's new car seat, the Graco My Ride 65. This is a convertible car seat that is rated for children from 5 lbs, all the way through 65 lbs, and its a safe seat for rear facing riders up until 40 lbs...way more that your average seat that says to turn around by 20 to 25 lbs. We are loving this seat so far. L seems to like it, at least as much as he is going to like anything that straps him down and holds him still (he's in a super wiggly, squirmy stage right now). He has fallen asleep in it many times, even though we have only used it on short rides so far. My only complaint about it is how huge it is. It keeps my passenger seat from being able to go back as far as most people consider comfortable for riding, its sides ("wings") are also so high that I can't see L in it from my seat. But, though its size is a bit gargantuan, that is also part of its safety, a large seat to protect little ones better, high 'wings' for better side impact protection, etc.

My second pick for favorite baby product is our Diaper Genie II. We initially tried to take a different approach to diaper disposal, we thought we would be green and 'ReUse' old grocery sacks to bag diapers, thEn just toss them into a regular garbage pail in the closet in our nursery. What a stinky plan that was! Actually, poopy diapers weren't even the problems, becasue we double bagged those, but our whole nursery bagan to have a musty, amonia like odor, which was caused by the wet diapers. Even when emptying the pail every couple of days, the room just got more and more smelly. So I began research on diaper pails, looking for the one with the best reviews. This was what I found. The Diaper Genie II, which has been improved from the Diaper Genie I, they have eliminated the twisting feature, and replaced it with the automatic levers that you shove the old diaper through, then they snap back into place and seal off the inner bag that contains the diapers. The bag inside the genie will hold about 15 to 20 diapers before you need to remove it, so for us that means we have to change the bag in the genie about every 5-7 days. And best of all, no more stink! Now our nursery smells like Johnson and Johnson, just like a nursery should!

The next baby product I am loving is our inchbug labels. These are the stretchy, labels that I ordered with our family name monogramed (engraved, carved in relief?) into it, to fit onto bottles, cups, bowls, and any other items that are about the circumference of a bottle to be sure it stays with my child. These are really cute, and come in four different color choices, and you can even put little shapes on to decorate them, I choose a heart since it goes with our name. These are ordered from inchbug.com.

The fourth item I have that is a favorite of all of our baby products is our collection of Praise Baby DVD's. These videos are very similar to Baby Einstein products (which we also have several of their DVDs) in the items that are shown on the screen are simple, large objects to catch babies eye, but what sets these apart is the music the videos are done to. They images and such are set to Praise music, just like what we sing at church, and what I listen to in the car. Think songs like "God of Wonders," "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Shout to the Lord," etc. These are fabulous videos, that we all enjoy, I love to sing along to them, L loves watching them, and Steven even seems to like them.

The next baby product that has become a favorite of ours is the ExerSaucer. This is another Graco product, we have the Baby Einstein Stationary Entertainer. This thing it so cool, it is full of fun, colorful, entertaining toys that L spends tons of time spinning around in this playing with each different one as he goes around. Another thing I really like about this is that the toys on it are some of the same toys you see on the Baby Einstin videos, so they are familiar and extra fun to baby.

The sixth (and last) baby product we would have trouble living without around here is our Boon bath toys. We actually purchased this whole pack of Boon products ar SAMS, I had looked at these items individually at Babys'r Us and Target, but found this bundle pack at SAMS for less. This included the Frog Pod, the Flo, and the bath toys. The Frog Pod is this cool frog shaped toy holder that attaches to the bathtub wall, and serves many purposes; it holds all the bath toys and has a drain so they can dry our and not get moldy, slimy, it has toes that you can hook washclothes and such too to dry out between baths, and the top of it has a shelf to hold baby bath products, oh, and the scoop part (the frogs back) detaches to use to scoop and play with water, rinse soapy bodies and heads, and gather up toys at the end of bath time. These items have been especially fun for us since Baby L is such a huge fan of bath time.

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On an unrelated note: if you would like a daily dose of lesson in cuteness, go check out Baby L over here.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho.....

......its off to work I go, with my baby in tow'!

That's right, L joined me in my classroom for a couple of hours today. He was really good, and even took an hour long nap on a pallet, so I got to put up a bulletin board, and caught Jill up on some juicy gossip (all about me though....or my life, I do try my hardest not to talk about others, at least not negatively).
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*Prayer Request*
I would like to ask for prayers for my step-sister, Lauren. I don't think I've mentioned her on my blog before; we are not close. She has chosen to live a very different lifestyle, and that has not been conducive to she and I forming a strong bond over the last 10 years our parents have been married. Anyway, Lauren has struggled with very serious addictions for many, many years. That in and of itself is something to pray about, that God would do a miraculous healing in her life, and help her to overcome her addictions. But, unfortunately, I have a more specific and serious prayer request on her behalf. Lauren is pregnant. She is married, but she is also still using...my prayer is that God would put His power and grace in place as a filter in the umbilical cord binding Lauren to her seven week old fetus. I pray that God do the amazing work that only He can, and prevent any harmful poison Lauren chooses to intake from being transmitted through her to her baby. She is putting this child in unimaginable risk of so many serious complications, and potential illnesses and syndromes. I ask the Lord to please protect this baby that it not have to suffer the consequences of Lauren's actions.

I'm a Mama-Chef

That's right...I did it...I made my own baby food! I've been wanting to try this for a while, and since L is now really starting to eat baby food daily, I decide now was as good a time as any to give it a' go.

I decided to start with three basic baby foods. Two veggies, and one fruit. First was butternut squash:

I washed the squash, the peeled it, then cut it into cubes. The squash then neeeded to be steamed to cook it, and soften it up. So I put in the squash cubes into my steamer, drizzeled about 1 tbsp of EVOO on it, and sprinkled a touch of salt on it. I let it steam for about 10 minutes. Next it went into the food processor, it had to blend and grind for about 3 minutes to get a smooth texture. I also added about 3 tbsps of the water fromthe bottom of the steaming basket to the squash to smooth it even more. Once it was done, I spooned it into ice cube trays to be froozen.

The other veggie I decided to make is Avocado. I got this idea from Mckmama. It make perfect sense as a babyfood though, because of its smooth, smooshy texture, it is also a very healthy food due to its high content of Omega 3 fatty acids and such. Avocado is full of brain building nutrients. So I picked some good avocados, cleaned them, then sliced thim up and removed the pits.

Then I used a spoon and scooped all the 'meat' out of the avocado skins directly into the food processor since it doesn't need to be cooked. I added to it only about 2 tbsps lime juice, this is to keep it from browning. Then I blended it for about 5 minutes, the food was thicker, and took more time to get really smooth. After is was a good, consistent smooth texture, I scooped this into ice cube trays, to freeze as well, I also put a little aside to feed L that night, so he could try it fresh.

The last food I decide to make is a fruit/dessert combo of blueberries, bananas, and a little natural yogurt. I began by cleaning the berries, and peeling the bananas, then the berries went into the steamer, and the bananas were sliced. I only steamed the blue berries for about three to four minutes, they cook up really fast, and the outter skins on the berries shrivel up, and the fruit center gets really juicy, its a little messy, but I just poured the it straight into the food processor, added the yogurt, and bananas.
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Next, it had to be blended, it mixed up and smoothed out the fastest, it only took about two minutes of pureeing. Then this was also scooped out into ice cube trays, all the trays were carefully placed in the freezer, and left to freeze over night.
The next morning I went in and took the trays out and took the baby food cubes from them, and put them into labeled and dated freezer bags. Voila, fully organic, homemade, healthy, easy to make, Baby Food!
If you want to see pictures of Baby L eating his fresh Avocado, go here.