Is that a bow in his hair?

Do I have to explain why this picture didn't make the cut for our Christmas card photo?

Bath Time, or Not...

Time for Another Haircut?

I am thankful for...

I am thankful for Ryan not going back into the Army. Okay, before you think I fell off of my rocker I should explain that I decided to take this Thanksgiving challenge. I am choosing to say thank you to God for something that I am not quite ready to feel thankful for, but I want to trust that He is in control and knows what is best for us.

**Sorry, the link is gone. The challenge was to thank God for something that is difficult; something you can't see any reason right now to be thankful for. We're not to just thank God for the good, but to be thankful for everything and every situation.

And the Answer is... Not What We Thought it Would be

Ryan got the call today from his recruiter. And… he won’t be going into the Army at this time. Originally there were six slots, but only one was filled. Ryan was told that he’s basically put on a list. If they have more openings, they might contact him in the future.

We’re both a little discouraged and completely unsure of where God wants us, but we’ll keep looking for that open door. And on to our backup plan… Ryan will try to get a full time position with his current job. I’ll keep my current days off so that Aric will be with one of us for the majority of the week. And I’ll still be looking for daycare, but now I only need to find someone to watch Aric on Mondays and Thursdays.

Mondays, you ask. Yes, Ryan came home last night and told me they were switching his days off to Friday-Sunday beginning December 8th. It seems like I’m forever scrambling to find daycare. I pray God will lead me to the right person or place, so that my son is well taken care of.

And while I’m praying, I pray that God will lead us to the right job for Ryan. Things seem really uncertain right now and we both desire stability in our lives.

No, We Don't Watch Too Much TV

Pears

Aric loves pears. As witnessed by the first photo, he grabbed my wrist to pull my hand closer for more. Then he proceeded to act like a baby bird and had his mouth wide open for the next bite. I wonder if he'll love them as much today as he did yesterday.

Still Waiting...

We’re still waiting to hear from Ryan’s recruiter. He called her yesterday only to have her tell him that she hasn’t received any information yet. She thought she might know sometime this week. Is that sometime before Thanksgiving? Or is that going to end up being sometime next week? I generally have a lot of patience. A LOT! Right now the whole situation is just making me anxious and impatient. I really, really want to know what things will look like next year. I guess I’ll just keep on waiting and trying to be patient.

Not Me! Monday, I Mean Tuesday

**No, I am not plagerizing like my dear husband accused me of. For the complete rules for Not Me! Mondays, you can go here.

I have not been thinking about doing this for awhile. My reason for not doing this is not because I keep forgetting to do it on Mondays. I have not entertained the idea of pre-writing this ahead of time so I can post this on time. I am not posting this on a Tuesday because I once again forgot to do it on a Monday. And I do not think of my life in terms of Not Me! Mondays.

I did not go to Wal-Mart shortly after waking up this morning to miss all of the crowds. I did not make said trip to Wal-Mart wearing the clothes I slept in underneath a zip up fleece and my husband’s wind pants, with no makeup on, uncombed hair and my child dressed in his pajamas. We always look put together. I did not say a little prayer on the way to Wal-Mart that I wouldn’t run in to anyone I knew, because I don’t worry about things like that!

I do not still wear my husband’s wind pants, the same wind pants that I stole when I was pregnant. I am not too lazy and cheap to go out and buy myself a pair of wind pants that fit me.

My child is not going through the separation anxiety stage. He is super-confident and self-assured and does not need to see another person all of the time.

I am not wasting my time writing this instead of taking a shower. I do not spend too much time on the computer!

Sans Cloth Diapers

I know, I know, three blog entries in one night, but look who can sit up when he isn’t encumbered with a bulky cloth diaper. Of course right after this he stiffened up and fell backwards.

Headache

I walked around this morning getting ready for work with a bad headache. Before I left the house Ryan asked if I woke up when he head-butted me overnight. No, I didn’t wake up, but that explained the headache!

Bananas

I, personally, thought the bananas were kind of gross. They had an odd taste to them. However, Aric seemed to like them after his initial shock.

So We Wait...

Today was the day that Ryan was supposed to find out if he passed the board and will go back into the Army. Except that his recruiter has Fridays off. So we wait...

First Date

Monday night Ryan and I went on our first post-baby date. It was kind of spontaneous and nowhere close to being romantic. We fed Aric dinner and took him over to his sitter’s house. We then bought movie tickets for Quantum of Solace and went to Target to kill some time before the movie began. Of course, we ended up buying Aric a new vibrating bouncy chair to sit in and a new toy to entertain him in the car. We laughed about being out on our first date and still our actions and thoughts revolved around our son. It was nice to watch a movie without half listening for the cries of a baby. After the movie we picked Aric up, took him home to bed, set up his new chair and went to bed ourselves. Not the first date of my dreams, but it was nice anyway.

Careless Comments

It started out as an innocent conversation and ended up as a discussion that became personally offensive to me. I was conversing with a coworker about the last time we received flowers as a romantic gesture. I explained to her that my husband doesn't like to give flowers, but sometimes he brings me plants. I was pregnant with Aric the last time Ryan brought me a plant. My pregnancy had progressed passed the point of my past two miscarriages and Ryan brought me home a plant in celebration. My coworker said that it was better that I had lost those two babies because there was probably something wrong with them.

Her statement, while it probably wasn't meant to be mean, was ignorant. It was one of those statements that people say when they don't know what to say and just shouldn't say anything at all. I heard alot of similiar statements following my miscarriages and actually had a friendship fall apart over an inconsiderate comment.

It doesn't matter if there had been something wrong with those babies, I would've had them anyway and I would've treasured every moment that I was blessed to have them in my life. I am against abortion because I don't believe that I can decide when life can end. I believe that life begins at the point of conception. I wouldn't get rid of a child just because the baby was less than perfect and not completely healthy. There are too many examples in my life of amazing people who might not be here if different choices had been made while they were in the womb.

I'm not trying to start any controversy. I'm just stating my beliefs and suggesting that maybe everyone should think before making a careless comment.

Packing, Days Off and Realizations

At times I feel that life is passing by too quickly. At least right now it is. I know at given times it can seem incredibly slow; waiting for a child, waiting for news on a job or even waiting for a surprise. Right now time is flying by. Aric is growing so quickly. I am already packing up his 6 month and 9 month clothes, and pulling out 12 mo sizes for him to wear. I can hardly believe that my little boy is already five months old. Where has the time gone?

I had three days off this past week. I loved spending time with Aric and Ryan. We didn't do much of anything. It was nice just to be together. We did take a trip to Home Depot thinking we had found a solution to our stairs only to discover we don't have a solution, yet. Ryan is currently putting that hard-earned engineering degree to work figuring out an option that would be safe, sturdy and effective in keeping Aric from a dangerous area in our home.

I enjoy reading blogs and getting glimpses of other people’s lives. Today I read this blog entry. What really spoke to me was her paragraph on her “post two-children body”. I have really struggled with body image issues since I had Aric. I knew I would forever be changed by pregnancy, but I didn’t realize how much or how it would affect me. I am down to my pre-baby weight, however, it isn’t arranged as it once was. I need to quit seeing it as a “loss” and realize it’s a wonderful thing. The stretch marks, the c-section scar, the new “womanly” shape are a tribute to the long road it took to get this beautiful little boy who currently is rolling around the room.

Baby Proof

We suddenly have a need to baby proof our house. I know, we’ve had a baby for almost five months now (tomorrow actually), but he’s been immobile and it hasn’t been a problem. Yesterday we discovered that he’s not immobile any longer. He has now figured out he can roll. Or should I say he has figured out he can put his front-to-back roll and his back-to-front roll together and move around. I don’t think he has a purpose to his direction, but we have found him five feet away from where we left him. Last night we actually watched him roll around. And now here’s our dilemma:

We have a wrought iron staircase in the center of our house; the very same staircase that gave me a concussion. I figure that when he begins to crawl around we’ll get one of these to baby proof it downstairs. The upstairs is the big problem. No one has ever installed a railing to go around the opening. The most they have done was to stack cinder blocks around it; very unstable cinder blocks that won’t hold an inquisitive child exploring the world. Ryan and I were talking about it last night and what we can do to make it safe. We actually need to build some sort of railing to go around the top and it will need to be something solid and stable that can withstand a little body throwing its weight against it. Apparently, we need to build it soon! I guess we might be making a trip to Home Depot tomorrow.

Carrots

We're done with veggies now, but we aren't going to introduce fruit for another month. I want him liking veggies before we let him know about sweet, yummy fruit!

Wanted: Day Care

I am completely overwhelmed with the task of finding day care for next year. I know time is quickly passing by and I had better get moving, however, I don’t even know where to begin. Today I was looking in the local paper to see what was offered in the classified ads and the thought of leaving my son with someone I don’t know made me want to cry. It’s not as though I have been with Aric all of the time, we do leave him with a sitter, but the person we entrust him to is one of our friends and I know he is well taken care of. Sadly, after Christmas her schedule is changing as is my schedule and most likely Ryan’s. It’s imperative that I line up someone to care for Aric. If you know of anyone in the area who is good and has an opening, let me know. Or even if you have some suggestions of ways I can go about finding day care, I would greatly appreciate them!

Yes, I did mention my schedule is changing. I do realize that plans can always change, but as of now in mid-January my days off are changing to Saturday and Sunday. It would be kind of “normal”. The only down-side is that I’ll have to cover a coworker’s maternity leave sometime in January or February, so I’ll have Sunday and Monday off for awhile. That’s not so bad.

Whiling Away the Morning