The Third Prayer

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Today is my dad’s last day of work at Chrysler.  With the failing economy, the St. Louis plant was closed a few months ago (maybe close to six months ago?)  He was lucky enough to hold on to his job a few months longer since he worked in the water treatment plant for Chrysler.  But starting today he starts his forced retirement.  Remember how he was excited to start watching Mary Rene and he wanted to take her up and down the street in a wagon? My mom, Frank and myself went in together and got him a wagon as a retirement gift.

The moment I took it out of the box to assemble, nosey Mary Rene came over to help.

She found the wheels and decided to put them in the wagon.

Once it was finally assembled, she jumped right in and has enjoyed being pushed around the front room throughout the day.

But what fun is a wagon without your friends, Baby Jesus

and Violet.

Isn’t that wagon great?  It has two seats with seat belts.  Plenty of room for Sweet Pea someday!

Seriously, everyday she has been playing in the wagon, see the new outfit-different day.

She likes to take her blanket and pillow inside so she can lay down for a cat nap.

Mary Rene and my dad are going to have so much fun with that wagon.

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Month one down with the new budget and I am proud to say that I stayed on budget for groceries!  I really did not think it was possible to do it but I did with $4 remaining.  The key was staying away from Target.  Target has such good deals but whoever goes there and buys only want they need?  I only allowed myself to go in there once because with a coupon and the sale, I got regularly $4.99 soda for $2.  Unfortunately we didn’t stay on budget with our utilities (colder weather spiked our gas bill,) medical bills (yeah, I think I have talked about this enough,) dentist (we both went the same month,) and charity (Haiti pushed us over, but completely worth it!)  So on to next month!

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Speaking of budgets, we met with a new financial advisor on Tuesday night.  He is the son of a friend from church.  If anyone in the St. Louis area is looking for a financial advisor call Michael Disalvo at 314-932-4300.  Frank and I feel much better about our pending deductible because now we see we have other resources for money, if needed.  We are still praying that we won’t need it but it is nice to have a safety net.

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I finished “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations” by Stephanie Cave, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.  I will be writing a cliff note’s version of the book on a post next week.  When I say cliff note’s version, it will be long.  It is a very informative book, eye opening that is for sure.  I highly recommend expecting mothers to read this book.  The only issue with the book is that is was last updated in 2000.  Ten years have gone by and there have been many changes to vaccines.  One change includes the rotavirus.  It is back in the line of shots and it wasn’t at the time of publication.  When I finished the book I was absolutely disgusted to look back at Mary Rene’s vaccination chart and see what was given to her.  I am so blessed that the only reaction she has had were two minor ear infections.  I say, “has had” because I learned from the book that side effects can appear years later, in the form of learning disabilities.  I am praying that other side effects don’t come up later though.  So many people talk about the autism debate with vaccinations but it is more than just autism.  Shooting your baby’s, already weak, immune system, with so many different viruses at the same time can cause strokes, seizures, learning disabilities and even death.  Okay, I’ll stop now.  I will be writing more about this next week.  The post is taking me awhile to construct properly but look for it next week.

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I have two new projects at work and have been, and will be, working my little tail off.  Working part-time can be hard when most of your hours are done at home.  Which means, you stay up late.  Lack of sleep means…lack of sleep.

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Two days after they decided to stop searching for survivors, more survivors are still being found.  I get goose bumps every time I hear another story about someone surviving.  The latest, a 16 year old girl was rescued 15 days after the earthquake.  Amazing.  I told Frank that I wanted to fly down there and nurse those poor babies.  Well, I also told him if I wasn’t pregnant then I would be convincing him to foster a child.  He really didn’t respond to that statement.

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I’ve been doing these Quick Takes for over a year now, hence the #54.  Has a year really gone by that fast?

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Something I thought I would never do: rub Vick’s on my chest and aim my daughter’s nose towards it while she nursed.  Well I did it.  She stopped to sniff but then went ahead and nursed.  I also rubbed it on her chest before she went to bed and she woke up feeling so much better.  Thanks Melissa for the suggestion!

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Since my dad is going to occasionally watch Mary Rene once he retires, we decided to start leaving her at my parent’s house for a bit while I go run errands.  Usually I am always with her when we visit so this was a big adjustment.  But you know what, she did fine.  She loves it at my parent’s house and has so much to do there.  They wore her out and she was so tired that she took a 2.5 hour nap.  The nap would have been longer but I sneezed when I walked by her and she instantly woke up.  I must say, going grocery shopping alone was really nice.  I enjoy Mary Rene’s company, and I know she likes to be out and about, but I was able to really concentrate on the sales and my coupons.  Hopefully my little shopping trips pays off and we stick to the grocery budget this week.

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Two of the gals at work are pregnant and we are having a baby shower for one of them today.  This gal is having a baby girl so I decided to try and make her a pair of baby girl shoes. 

This was very tedious and I’m not sure if I want to make this shoe thing a hobby.  I like making taggie blankets as gifts but I don’t think I’ll be going overboard and making girl shoes as well.   Although they are so cute and the finished product makes me so happy that I might do them again.  Hmm.

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Having a blog is great and it gets people to do things easily.  Case in point, my post yesterday about the deductible led my wonderful husband to call our insurance company again.  They confirmed that I will have a $800 deductible but now they are stating that the baby won’t have to pay his/her deductible until he/she starts making regular doctor visits.  They also said something about me not paying the deductible if all the stars align correctly.  So, now we are praying that all this is true and we leave with a healthy baby boy or girl and a small hospital bill.

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I have decided to delay vaccinations for Sweet Pea.  I’ve been doing a lot of research this week and my fantastic sister-in-law is getting books for me to read from the library, where she works.  So far, I like the Dr. Sears method the best.  Go figure.  For the moms that read this blog, how have you handled vaccinations?

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We have this little hand-held back scratcher that is shaped like a hand and the fingers knead into your back.  It an awesome little thing and I misplaced it several months ago.  Somehow Mary Rene found it and has been playing with it.  I showed her how it worked on her back and she started laughing so hard.  Which got me thinking, I’m going to make this a tickle game.  So everyday this week I have been handing it to Mary Rene and trying to get her to tickle me on the back with it.  She is starting to get the hang of it and is having fun.  Now I just need her to apply a little pressure and go in a circular motion while I kick back and relax during the massage.

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I have tried really hard not to turn on the television much this week because I am just sickened by the disaster in Haiti.  My heart just breaks for these people and all they are going through.  When it comes to natural disasters, are you plugged to the tv or do you steer away?

Last week, loyal reader Rae mentioned in a comment that I should write a post about time management.  Interesting.  I immediately thought, “oh that is a great idea.  Something different to write about.”  The next morning while I was out for my morning run I started to think about how I manage my time.  And well, I realized I don’t. 

So that day I decided to start managing my time more effectively so well, I could write about how I manage my time.  I decided that in order to figure out how I manage my time I needed to limit my internet usage.  I keep my work laptop on the kitchen table so I can respond to work emails throughout the day.  Sunday evening I  would open the following internet windows for the week:  work email, personal email, facebook, google reader, my blog and an open yahoo to do web searches.  The days I am at home, every 20 or 30 minutes I would walk to my laptop to see if I had a work issue to address.  If I did, I took care of it.  If I didn’t, I would take a look at all those other open windows.  Okay, I’ll be honest here.  Even if I had a work issue I still looked at all my personal windows.  The first thing I did in the morning was check all my windows, first thing when Mary Rene napped was check my windows and last thing I did before I went to bed was check my windows.  I realized that my day was revolving around all those darn windows.

So thank you Rae for the comment because now I am managing my time better.  But to answer your question, this is how I do it.

TV watching: 

I’m not much of a tv person however I DVR four shows. The shows come on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.  I watch Tuesday’s shows on Wednesday while I nurse Mary Rene to nap.  Thursday’s show on Friday while I nurse Mary Rene to nap.  Friday’s show with Frank after Mary Rene goes to bed.  And Sunday’s show on Monday while I nurse Mary Rene to nap.  When she was taking two naps I would also watch a soap opera during the second nap but that nap is gone so I don’t watch that crap show anymore.

In the morning I watch the news so I can know what is going on in the world before I open the front door.  Once the news is over I turn off the television and switch over to the radio.  Depending on the guest, I might turn on Ellen at 1 p.m. but most days I don’t.  We do not watch any cartoons or other programs during the day.  The radio stays on all day until the 5 p.m. news.  After the news I turn the radio back on.  When Frank gets home he turns the tv back on and it is usually on for the rest of the evening.  At this point it becomes background sound and we really should switch back to the radio.  That is something I need to work on with him. 

Internet usage:

Like I mentioned above, my internet usage was out of hand.  So now I open all my windows in the morning before Mary Rene wakes up.  I check my personal email first and respond to anything that needs quick attention.  I do a quick facebook scan and might do a status update (although I haven’t in a week.)  I then will spend the rest of the time on google reader until Mary Rene wakes up.  Once she wakes up all my windows are closed except my work email.  During Mary Rene’s nap or when she goes to bed I will work on my blog. 

Sewing:

Now that Mary Rene is taking one long nap I have been able to sneak in a little sewing during the day.  (I wasn’t doing this before because I was always on the internet!  But now I have so much more free time!)  However, I only do this once a week during nap time.  Physically sewing is out of the question since the machine would wake her so instead I do my prep work during naps.  I can look through my material, pick out the fabric and start cutting out my pieces.  During one of her naps last week I was able to cut out a whole pattern to make my mom a purse!

(I call the purse, “Pieces of Mary” because it is made from different pieces of all the dresses and hats I have made her thus far.)  Depending on our week, I try to sew at least once or twice a week after Mary Rene goes to bed.  If Frank is watching the game or another show that I’m not interested in then I will go downstairs and sew.  I usually sew for at least an hour before I head back upstairs.  (I’m very religious about being in bed at 10:30 p.m.) I’m not much of a tv person and sitting on the couch doing nothing is very hard for me to do.  The only time I really sit on the couch with him is if we are listening to the radio and actually interacting (a/k/a talking.)  TV watching together doesn’t count as quality time to me.  Although we do it on Friday nights while I watch Ugly Betty.  But then again, I rub his feet while I watch my show so we both win.

Workout:

Every morning I set my alarm to go off 45 minutes early so I can get up and go for a run.  Seven out of 10 times I hit snooze.  I blame that on the fact that Mary Rene still doesn’t sleep through the night.  But the mornings I do go for a run…heaven.  I love my morning runs so much and really wish I could do a better job of getting up every morning.  I clear my mind (and lungs) and re-energize.  Plus it is my bonding time with Sophie B.  She needs all the attention she can get.  Besides running, I do mini workouts with Mary Rene.  I have different ways I hold her and play with her so I can work on my arms and legs.  Little does she know that I am using her as a 23 pound weight.

Clean House:

Now that Mary Rene is mobile and more independent, I am able to clean house while she is awake.  I used to clean during her naps but that left little time for me to work or relax.  So now, I save all the chores that I can easily do while she is awake for well, when she is awake.  We load and unload the dishwasher together.  She walks behind me while I sweep.  She runs away when I vacuum.  She hands me clothes to fold.  The only thing I can’t do while she is awake is iron because the board is downstairs.  I either iron when she naps or I iron on the weekends when Frank is home. 

Run Errands:

Working part-time makes life easier for Frank and I.  I try to get all our errands run on my days off.  Mary Rene loves running errands and she does really good at the store.  We start running our errands immediately after eating breakfast and could be gone for at least an hour or two.  By the time we get home and unpacked she is usually ready for a nap.  It does take up a chunk of the day but it is nice to get this done so the weekends can be spent doing family things.

Hanging out with Frank:

We have a stay-in date night once a week when Mary Rene goes to bed.  The nights when I don’t sew we sit on the couch together and hang out.  We do family activities on the weekends.

Hanging out with Friends:

Well I’m not doing as well in this category but I am getting better.  The group of friends I hung out with before Mary Rene was born I don’t get to see that much.  They hang out at night and frankly I’m just too tired to get together.  But motherhood has connected me with a lot of new groups of women and I’m getting some adult time still!  I go to La Leche League meetings to have some womanly conversation and Mary-free time.  For those that don’t have kids that may sound BORING but let me tell you, I love those meetings.  It is a chance to get out and be surrounded by women who share my same views (on so many different levels.)  I also have a few different mom groups that I belong to and I go on play dates occasionally.  That depends on what Mary Rene and I have planned for the week.  My sister doesn’t work on Fridays so we’ve been hanging out during the day.  And honestly, my mom has been my best gal pal lately and I’ve been spending a lot of time with her.  If Frank is going out with friends or when he has a hockey game, I usually call her first to see if she wants to get together.  Unfortunately she lost her job so she has more free time.  But on the flip side, we’ve grown much closer.

Okay, I think that covers everything.  I still could do much better at managing my time but I am getting better at it.  The older Mary Rene gets the easier it is to sew and workout.  I really don’t know what will happen when we have a second baby in the house someday!  That will definately put a completely different spin to my schedule.  But for now, I’ll do what I do.

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The day Mary Rene decided to start nursing again, she didn’t stop.  And honestly she hasn’t stopped since.  Before the strike she would occasional wake up in the middle of the night for a nursing session.  Most nights she would be satisfied with just cuddling.  But since the strike, she has been nursing two, three, sometimes four times during the night.  Needless to say, I am tired.  Poor baby girl is in so much pain and just needs to be comforted…it would just be nice if the comforting was wanted during waking hours.  Wednesday night was a rough night and I ended up nursing her four times and on two or three occasions that didn’t even help her sleep.  I slept about five hours off and on and was completely exhausted when I woke up.  I started to complain but then Frank put it into perspective when he said, “Mary Rene had a rough night last night.”  Yeah she sure did.  So I instantly realized that my lack of sleep was due to my poor baby girl’s discomfort.  She was worse off then me.  And you know it is worth it when she finally does sleep and looks like this

so relaxed, so at peace, so pain-free.  I guess I can always sleep another day.

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Monday afternoon, my friend Nicole C and I went to a volunteer orientation for Crisis Nursery.  I don’t know where I got the idea to volunteer here but it works out great because Nicole C wanted to volunteer there as well.  As soon as I get my physical and TB test then I can start volunteering.  I plan on volunteering one of the days I work so then I am not taking away too much time from my family.  It will be nice to give back to the community and well…hang out with kids all day!

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Can you guess what Frank is doing?

Besides drinking a glass of wine, he is making his spice jar!  Awhile ago I talked about bringing spice back into our marriage.  When you practice Natural Family Planning and are trying to avoid pregnancy, you practice SPICE during your fertile days.  SPICE means:

Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Creatively & Communicatively and Emotionally.

It is a way of connecting with your spouse on a non-sexual level.  Well, we just need spice in general because we are so busy being parents that we haven’t made much time to be spouses.  So Wednesday night during our stay-in date we wrote down a list of “spicy” things we could do for each other.  Then we cut each one out and put them in our jars.  Next we decorated the outside of our jar.

Our plan is every Sunday we will pull out a spicey suggestion and we have the entire week to give the spice to our spouse.  I was so excited that I quickly started writing stuff down.  My list has simple things on it like (Frank don’t read this part): play with my hair, call me cute pet names like honey, sugar pie, love, ask me to dance, etc. etc.  I ended up adding about 35 spices to my jar.  Frank…he had seven.  I’m sure his seven are extravagant items though.  When he saw me writing away he said, “I guess this is why women are from Venus and men are from Mars.”

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Tomorrow we are going to my sister’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom’s family.  Can you believe it is Thanksgiving already?  The holiday just snuck up on me.

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These are the cabinets in our kitchen.  When I am cooking, Mary Rene likes to make a mess and take everything out.  We have little locks to go on the cabinets but we haven’t installed them yet.  The furthest cabinet on the right houses all our ziploc bags and…there was a full bottle of vodka in there. Yikes.  I didn’t realize that until Mary Rene handed it to me the other day.  I took the vodka and drank it hid it.  The cabinet on the far left houses all our tupperware and let me tell you, Mary Rene has fun playing with the tupperware.  It really isn’t that big of an issue until Frank has to find matching tupperware to put our leftovers in.  Then it becomes a problem.  On Wednesday during Mary Rene’s nap, I moved the tupperware to a drawer above the sink and now Mary Rene has her own special drawer.

 After her nap we went in the kitchen so I could cook and she walked to “her drawer” right away.  I pretended like nothing was going on but I looked down and oh my word, she was over the moon with happiness.  She looked up at me with these wide eyes and the expression on her face read, “is this for me?”  She looked close to tears in happiness.  She sat in her drawer and played with all her new kitchen toys and was having so much fun.  Sure most of the kitchen toys ended up on the kitchen floor but it was much easier to throw them back in then put them in neat stacks like tupperware.

At least someone is getting use out of those kitchen tools.

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Have I mentioned that my dad bought a foreclosure house that is five houses down from his?  If I haven’t, I just wanted to say, a few months ago my dad bought a foreclosure house that is five houses down from him.  There I said it.  When he was cleaning out the house he found this little red table that was the perfect size for Mary Rene.   Most of the paint was chipped off so he took it to work, removed all the paint, sanded it down until it was nice and smooth.  I planned on painting it pink but never got around to it.  I asked Frank’s talented sister to paint it and she went above and beyond and also wrote Mary Rene’s name on it.

Cute.  My dad ended up finding the chair that went with the table but we put that in her playhouse in the backyard.

While Elizabeth was painting the table, I also asked her to finish my paint job in Mary Rene’s room.  Back in September I wrote, “Guess How Much I Love You” on the wall to pay the utmost respect to the book entitled, “Guess How Much I Love You.”  My plan was to paint hearts around what I wrote but well, I never got around to it.  So Elizabeth came over and finished my paint job and

wala.

You’ll never be able to guess how much I love my baby girl either.

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I call this: You Know You Are a Blog Dork When…I have realized that I talk about a lot of things but I never had the proper categories on my post.  For instance, I would write a post about how Mary Rene was nursing but I would only put the post under Mary Rene and not nursing.  Well that is useless.  So I was really bored at work (typing the word work is making me add this post to my work category) and I started adding categories and trying to fix the missing pieces.  Well, that is just a darn headache because this blog is nearly two years old.  So even though, for instance, I have talked about Natural Family Planning on several occasions, I only have it listed twice because I never properly tagged it.  So now I classify myself as a blogging dork because I want to go back and reread every post and make sure I have as many categories tagged as possible.  Oh I need a life.

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Monday morning around 8 a.m. I got a call from my good friend Laura’s husband.  Laura had her baby 45 minutes prior to his call!  Congratulations Laura!  And boy, is baby Cole a cutie.  I was able to make it up to the hospital and see him and he just took my breath away.

Boy has some cheeks don’t ya say?  He looks a lot like his big brother, Caden.

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Yesterday I made it over to my friend Emily’s house and I had the pleasure of meeting my amazingly, beautiful, Goddaughter, Beatrice.

Wow!  Like Emily said on her blog, she is perfect in every way.  And Beatrice, she looks a lot like her big sister, Ella.

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Last week my friend Jenn gave birth to her second son, Jaxson.  I went to visit but both kids were napping so I just left a gift at the door.  Sunday I get to meet my friend Katie’s newborn son.  Yesterday my friend Alexis gave birth to her first baby!  Do you feel the baby fever?

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Tuesday while I was on my morning run I noticed that two teenage boys were  pulling on another teenager’s jacket and kicking the person in the back of their legs.  When I got closer I noticed it was a girl.  I stopped in front of her and asked if she was okay.  She said yes and the boys backed off.  It really did appear that they were just teasing her and I happened on the situation.  But I still decided to warn the lady that was walking past me about the situation.  The next morning, one of the bully boys and the girl stopped me and asked if they could pet my dog.  They started asking a lot of questions about Sophie and were both talking about their dogs.  Yesterday they ignored me when I ran by.  I don’t really know what to think about these kids but I’m glad I said something.

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When I returned back to work after having Mary Rene, I was on a 10 month trial to see how working part-time was working for the company and myself.  My boss and I were supposed to reeveulate the situation at 10 months.  When she was in town (she is located in Overland Park, Kansas) in July she mentioned coming back in August to discuss my full-time return to work.  I reminded her that my 10 month trial would be up in October, not August.  She said she would wait until then to discuss it.  She was scheduled to come in town in October but she never came. Yesterday she called and said we had something important to discuss.  I got a lump in my throat and was prepared to lay out the facts and fight to stay part-time.  But instead, she asked for me to take on another project.  I agreed.  So for now, I’m still part-time and hope to stay for as long as I can. 

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Something is wrong with Mary Rene and we don’t know what it is.  She doesn’t have a fever or a cough so we don’t think she is getting sick.  How do we know something is wrong?  Besides the obvious fact that she is extremely crabby and scream crying, she has not nursed in over 24 hours now.  This leads us to believe that she has some serious teething going on.  I just hope those teeth come through soon so we can get back on schedule.  I really don’t think she is self weaning because there are too many other teething syptoms going on with this.  Needless to say I had to pull the pump back out.  Fun.

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Mary Rene found a new toy.

Hey, she knows what the real purpose of the toy is…

Sophie doesn’t like the toy so much…

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When people used to ask how many kids I wanted I always used to say four or five.  I really wanted to have a big family and couldn’t think of any other way to show my love for Frank.  But after having Mary Rene, I changed my mind.  I don’t want Mary Rene to be an only child but I honestly can’t imagine how my heart can love another child as much as I love her.  I always hear that when you have a second child your heart doesn’t divide but it grows.  I can’t even begin to imagine loving another baby as much as I love her, but I guess, only time will tell.  For now I will watch as my friends do it.  My friend, Emily, gave birth to her second daughter, a beautiful baby girl, Beatrice Louise, on Monday.  CONGRATULATIONS!  One of her last post was about how she was reading “Goodnight Moon” to her daughter Ella and she realized at that moment it might be their last moment alone together.  It was a touching post because my heart ached for her but at the same time my heart was aching for myself.  If God so blesses me, someday I will have that same feeling as I am reading to Mary Rene.  I’m looking forward to learning from Emily and how this heart of hers is growing and growing each and everyday.

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Monday evening I stayed up and I sewed three taggie blankets and then I decided to make a baby cube for Beatrice.  About five months ago I was at a baby shower and I saw these cloth baby cubes sitting on the food table.  I realized how easy it would be to sew them and decided I would give it a try.  Apparently I forgot about that internal conversation until now.  I took some yellow fleece and cut out the letter “B” and then I cut a satin heart and sewed both to different pieces of fabric. 

I had a little of the St. Louis Cardinals fleece left and was able to make a square of the cube from it.

Now my cube has some St. Louis flavor.  I meant to add tags to some of the sides so it would be a taggie cube, but as you can see, I forgot.  The cube is much bigger than I anticipated and it isn’t as square as I would like but hey, it is my first cube.  Four days after completing it, I was on one of my new favorite websites, Make It and Love It and I noticed that she did this same project back in March.  Ugh.  Now I feel like a cheat.  Although I must say, mine has more flavor since I added the fleece “B” and the satin heart.

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About two months ago, Frank and I made the decision to take a break from being Eucharist Ministers.  We were scheduled every other month for the noon Mass but some weeks it would be really hard to commit to that Mass time because of Mary Rene’s nap schedule.  I called Richard, the Eucharist Minister coordinator, to tell him to remove us from the schedule for a couple months.  I was happy to get his voicemail because I hated to disappoint him over the phone.  A week went by and I never heard from him.  And then I got the call.  He had passed away, at his home, and was found four days later.  It turns out that I probably called when he had already passed away.  My heart sank in grief for him and his family.  But even more, my heart yearned to be a minister again.  So on Sunday, Frank and I started ministering again but now we have switched to the 9 a.m.  Mass.  Mary Rene usually takes her first nap at 10 a.m. so this works out perfect. 

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I have finished my first official week of not pumping.  On Tuesday I was able to take my co-worker, Laurie, out to lunch for her birthday.  Yesterday, I was able to get a new battery installed in my Jeep and run into Kohl’s and Best Buy for some errands.  It was like old times all over again.  I can now say, I don’t miss pumping.

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I don’t want to jinx myself by saying this but, I have been doing an awesome job of getting up every morning and running.  I still have to be quiet and try to trick Sophie…most of the times I fail.  My running friends are gearing up for a half marathon in March.  They have asked me to join and I highly doubt I will be ready.  But, I might be ready to do the 10K the day before the race. 

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Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice outside and this may just be the last nice day for awhile.  What is something fun that Frank, Mary Rene and I can do outside?  I was thinking Grant’s Farm.  Frank wants to go apple picking.  Any suggestions?

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Mary Rene has learned how to get on and off the couch all by herself.  I must say, she is very gracious and careful when she does it.  The only problem is she likes to pester Sophie all day long.

I say pester because she likes to stick her finger in Sophie’s eye.

What does Sophie do?  Absolutely nothing.  Good dog.

Last Thursday was officially my last day pumping.  At the time I thought it might be my last time but I didn’t fully realize it until yesterday when I went to work.  My mother-in-law, whom watches Mary Rene the two days I work, and I discussed it and I decided to quit.  Mary Rene hasn’t been taking a bottle (or sippy cup), and even though this could be a result from teething and she might take it again, I am ready to stop. I thought about continuing to pump and then donate my milk.  It sounded like a real heroic thing to do and I hear about women who do that all the time.  But, I’m ready to stop.  Pumping hasn’t been that  bad and I honestly have grown accustom to doing it.  I had a good method and was still producing enough milk.  But honestly, I wouldn’t mind getting that time back so I can start going on guilt-free lunches with my co-workers.  I won’t have to transport the milk back and forth everyday.  Honestly, I am saving a lot of time.

So yesterday when I got to the office, I packed up all my pump parts and put them away in my bag.  I took my bag downstairs and put it back in the cardboard box (yes I kept the box.)  For now, I am parting with my pump. 

It is bittersweet.  Pumping was the way I oddly connected with Mary Rene while I was at work.  Pumping allowed me to produce the good milk that she needed.  And now that part of my life is gone.  For now.

I do commercial real estate.  Well kind of.  My job as a Site Acquisition Specialist is to find locations to put cellular towers and antennas.  Basically we are told by a cell phone carrier where they need coverage improvements and we find land to lease.  Once we get the land secured then we obtain the necessary zoning and building permit approvals from that jurisdiction.  Sounds interesting doesn’t it?

Well it actually is.  I know where my cell phone works and doesn’t work.  And the best part, I know why it doesn’t work in a particular area.  It is hard to get mad at my cell phone provider if a call is dropped because I understand why it dropped in such-and-such area.  Maybe that zoning district doesn’t allow antennas.  Maybe that area doesn’t have adequate land options.  Maybe funding is dried up due to mergers and acquisitions.  The possibilities are endless.

When I bought my house back in 2003 I was having problems with using my cell phone in my basement.  I asked one of the cell phone techs which carrier was on the tower across the street from my house.  I switched to that carrier and have not had a problem since.  Knowing this kind of information is very helpful.

My company works for various cell phone providers in different aspects.  Here is where I toot my horn a bit.  If you are an AT&T customer, you can thank me next time you are using your cell phone at the St. Louis Zoo.  If you are a Verizon Wireless customer, you can thank me next time you are using internet on your cell phone.  If you are in the St. Louis area and switched to Cricket Communications, you can thank me for having the option of a new carrier. 

In a nutshell, that’s what I do.  It is not what I went to college for but I found my way into this field.  This next part is going to sound like an oxymoron.  I make pretty good money doing this line of work.  But two months after I was hired, the owner of my company was a bit drunk and told me that he would have paid a lot more to hire me.  Oh if only I would have known that.  A few months after that, a co-worker told me that he hasn’t worked for less than six figures in years.  Well, I don’t make that kind of money either.  I don’t make anywhere near that kind of money but it is good enough that I can work part-time.  There are many times I think about doing something else for a living but starting from scratch would mean I would have to work full-time to make up for the amount I make now doing part-time.  And well, part-time rocks.  So for now, I will continue making your cell phone work.

I just realized that I probably have never mentioned what I do for a living.  I’m a mom and I have been on that job since Sept. 16, 2008.  The only time I am off that job is when I go to sleep at night.  But sometimes I’m not even off then because being a mom filled my head and I can’t sleep.

My other job is what is keeping me in Springfield, Missouri for the night.  I am a Site Acquisition Specialist.  I bet 85% of you have never heard of that and probably will never hear of someone doing that again.  I can name almost every person in the St. Louis area who holds the same title as me from all the different companies.  I can count the number of companies on my hands.  We are a small group of people that somehow or another fell into this line of work. 

I’ll save what we do for another post.  Instead I will share with you what happened on my business trip.

This morning I left my hotel in Rolla, Missouri at 5:50 a.m. and started my hour drive to Simmons, Missouri.  It was pitch black and foggy when I started my trip.  I popped in my Marvin Gaye cd and jammed for an hour.  Along the way, I got to see the sunrise.

But this was all while I was driving.

At 6:55 a.m. I arrived at my first location.  The day has begun.

Around 9 a.m. my car got stuck in some mud.

And then my feet got stuck in the mud and it was all over my car.

By 10 a.m. we are at our fourth location and it is time for me to pump.  I have to pump in the front seat of my car quickly while my client is working at the location.  I’m able to finish pumping in about six minutes.  Pumping in my car wasn’t so bad but cleaning my parts was really hard and yucky.

But I came prepared and I brought a bowl and lots of water so I can hand wash my parts between each pumping session.

I brought plenty of ice packs and frozen water bottles to keep my milk cold throughout the day.  Although I had to stop in the middle of the day to buy more ice.

As soon as I am done pumping we are on our way again.  We go through the drive-thru and eat as we head to the next location.  There is no time to stop for much.

My afternoon is spent dodging cows

and their stuff

gross.

I see a lot of cows on these trips because we are in farm land.  Today I saw a llama for the first time.

That was really quite odd.  Even weirder was the cow and the roaster with the llama.

After leaving the llama, I went to open a gate and almost grabbed a grasshopper.

Around 3 p.m. it is time for me to pump again.  We happen to be on a horse farm and while I am pumping I see four horses coming my way.  I quickly finish pumping and jump out of my Jeep in time to get a picture of two of the horses next to my client’s truck. 

I get back in my Jeep to wash my pump parts.  Then I hear a noise right outside my window.

The horses wanted to come say hi a little bit closer to me. 

By 7 p.m. my day is over and I am finally in Springfield, Missouri.  Frank’s friend lives in Springfield so I’m able to meet up with him for a drink and a bite to eat.

Being away from Frank and Mary Rene is hard but it helps to see them the whole time I am driving.  The crown was on Mary Rene’s birthday cake. 

After spending 13 hours in my car…I am exhausted and ready for bed.  One more day and then I’m home.

This picture was taken with my cellphone yesterday and here is the story.  Mary Rene must have known I was going on a business trip and would be away for a few days because yesterday she wanted to cuddle a lot.  For her second nap, she fell asleep in her crib for about 25 minutes but then woke up crying.  When I picked her up, she laid her head on my chest and closed her eyes again.  Instead of laying her back in her crib, I sat on the couch and let her lay on my chest…just like old times.  She slept like this for an hour.  She hasn’t done this in about six months or maybe even longer.  Mostly because I have so much to get done around the house that I can’t just sit on the couch.  But yesterday, it was really nice for both of us.  Knowing that I was going to be away from her for 2-3 days made it much easier to be still, relax and enjoy my baby.  I really, really struggle with sitting on the couch and doing nothing.  When you work from home and have a house to take care of, you don’t really have time to sit on the couch during naps.  But yesterday was really nice and I really need to do that more often.

After she woke up, she wanted to keep cuddling.  I was sitting on the floor and she walked over and climbed up onto my chest.  I happen to have my camera sitting right next to me and…

perfection.  I’m going to miss cuddling her while I’m away these couple days.

***

When Mary Rene was seven months young she started walking as long as someone was holding her hands.  She had no desire to learn to crawl because she was too busy “walking.”  We walked like this for months and months and months.  My back was hurting for months and months and months and I was so ready for her to walk on her own.  People kept telling me, “once she starts walking then you really will be working.”  I just wanted to stand up straight for once and give my back a break so I didn’t care.

Well…

I change my mind.  I got my work cut out for me now.  This girl is getting into everything at an alarming rate!  When she was just crawling we would have time to catch her before she would grab something bad.  Now we just can’t keep up with her.  She is in one thing after the next.  If you pull her away from something then she will find something else to get into. 

But the biggest problem is she is putting more junk in her mouth.  Every time we turn around she is chewing on something and we have to try and yank it out of her mouth.  This leads to her crying and pouting as Frank and I are digging in her mouth to pull out a dust bunny or a piece of string.  (Why does this girl like to eat string????)

What we thought was a baby proof house wasn’t and we are re-baby proofing everyday. 

Mary Rene did really good in Columbia at my sister’s bridal shower and bachelorette party.  She only took one nap that day and I was really worried about how the rest of the evening would go.  But she was having so much fun walking around my sister’s fiance’s parent’s house that she didn’t get cranky at all.  She was wide awake and on the go!  When I put her to bed at 7:20 p.m. she was asleep in a matter of minutes.  And the best part, she slept through the night in her pack-n-play and didn’t wake up until 7:30 a.m.  Oh that was lovely! 

The next day I was only able to get her to take one nap again.  She was doing great but then started to get crabby around 6 p.m.  I didn’t want to put her to bed yet because then she would be up at 6 a.m. so I kept her occupied for another 30 minutes.  I gave her a bath and did her nightly routine.  When I put her to bed it only took a few minutes again.  Sweet! 

On Monday she got two naps and she resisted when we tried putting her to sleep.  I had to leave for my business trip so Frank had to finish the job and finally was able to get her to sleep.  So now I’m starting to wonder, is one nap better than two?