Funny Photos...

Yes, he is trying to eat the recliner.

What can you do, though, when it makes him really happy?

Usually when we put Aric in his jumperoo we make an effort to pull down his pant legs. We missed doing it the other day and the result...

He looks like he's wearing lederhosen.

What a Big Boy!

I stole borrowed this picture from my friend, Sarah. Aric and I went to the hospital yesterday to see Sarah and baby Blake. I can't believe that 7-1/2 months ago Aric was the baby everyone was visiting. Now he's the "big boy".

Plumber Extraordinaire

Ryan and I are able to laugh about this now, but at the time tensions were high.

Yesterday the septic guy came and pumped our tank. This did not fix the problem since there was still a clog in the pipes. I called RotoRooter and found out that it would be $155 and someone could come out that day. I then called Ryan at work and asked him if I should go ahead and schedule the plumber. He told me to call and rent an auger and he would do it himself.

Now for a little back story, we did this last time and still had to call RotoRooter to fix the problem. Moving on...

I, being the doubting good wife that I am, went to the rental place and brought home an auger. I called Ryan to let him know that I had the auger at home and to be prepared to work on that. (Can you see how good of a wife I was last night?) Ryan came home, started working on the pipes, and it did not go well. At one point he thought he had it fixed, ran a bunch of water, and overflowed the lines again. It smelled foul, but thankfully the wet vac was already in the house. He made me wear his gloves and snake the line while he went outside to listen. He even made himself a sandwich and went upstairs to read more about it on the Internet. Meanwhile, I'm fixing dinner tallying in my head how much this is going to cost: $200 to pump the septic tank + $48 for supplies to reset the toilet (it needed more than just a wax ring) + $58 to rent the auger + $155 to have RotoRooter come out hopefully tomorrow to fix the problem. As Ryan said later, "The night was not looking good at Chez Peters."

Ryan came downstairs with a renewed sense of purpose and was able to break through the clog and solve our problems. We had dinner and then cleaned up the house. There is still more to do, since resetting the toilet is not as easy as just installing a new wax ring, but there's an end in sight and I can shower longer than 2 minutes again.

We did laugh about how "the night was not looking good at Chez Peters" and that this was something that could've been brought up repeatedly over the next 15 years. Ahhh, domestic bliss!

What is so Interesting?

Last night was the first night all week that Aric slept the whole night through. He was asleep by 8pm and didn't wake up until 7am, when I woke him up to eat. (He must have been worn out from the lack of sleep, too.) I remember Ryan waking me up at 4:30am to ask if I wanted him to bring Aric in to eat. I also remember telling him no and rolling over to fall asleep. I didn't wake up again until 7am. It was wonderful! I'm still tired, but I feel better than I have felt all week.

We're halfway back to getting our plumbing fixed. This seems to be a once a year problem and it is not pleasant. I've showered at work, taken two minute showers at home, made multiple trips outside to dump dishwater, bathwater, etc... I am glad that we normally have working plumbing and don't have to worry about making this our routine! Hopefully we can get the problem completely resolved tonight, tomorrow at the latest.

Aric had his second day of childcare yesterday. Ms. Autumn said that he did really well all day and didn't cry once. When I arrived at the end of the day, he was sitting on the floor playing next to another little girl who is 12 months old. Aric is the same size as this girl, if not a little bigger. I guess I don't have to worry that she'll bully him!

Everyday I can see Aric get a little closer to being able to crawl. He can low-crawl now. He also rocks on his hands and knees quite often. In addition, I have seen Aric sit back up from a crawling position. I am still awestruck by how babies make such huge changes developmentally in a matter of weeks.


What is so interesting?



We've seen this pose quite a few times in the last couple of days since Ryan bought Aric some Baby Einstein DVDs. I'm not sure what it is about them, but Aric is definitely captivated. (Well, for 5 minutes or so.)

Sleep-Deprivation and Plumbing Woes

I have not slept a full night through during the past week. For some reason Aric has been waking up several times every night. I'm really not sure what his problem is. I keep checking his mouth to see if he's getting more teeth, but no sign yet. He has slept alot in our bed because I'm so tired I fall asleep while he's eating. I really feel like I am going through the motions of my day right now since I'm sleep-deprived again. Hopefully whatever is going on will calm down soon. I'm not sure if it's a growth-spurt/hunger issue, because every time he wakes up he'll eat and then fall back asleep. It's amazing how a full night's sleep is easily taken for granted.

Thank you for all of your suggestions for our bath situation. Right now finding a solution is on hold for a bit, because our plumbing is on the fritz. (It's a long story about a failed lateral field and a full septic tank. I'll spare you the details.) Until we get the plumbing back in order, Aric's bathtub will have to work. At least we can throw the bath water out into the yard when we use the toddler tub. Last night I sat on the floor right next to Aric while he played in the baby bath. He pulled up on the side, turned around in the tub, and splashed till his heart's content. Sitting right next to him will have to be my solution until we can actually put water down the drain again.

Multi-Tasking

**UPDATE**
This is the tub that we have been using. Ryan was going to try to search today for something we can use for Aric.

**ORIGINAL ENTRY**
I have always been a huge multi-tasker. I need it in my job and it has always been helpful in my personal life. Until now...

Every night I give Aric a bath and let him play for awhile. He still uses an infant/toddler bath tub that I just set in the tub. While he is splashing water everywhere playing with his bath toys, I stay in the bathroom and wash my face, brush my teeth, etc. I didn't think it was a bad thing to do other things in the same room since I'm constantly watching him so he doesn't drown, until tonight. I was midway through flossing my teeth, leaning against the counter watching Aric at the time, when he decides to pull himself up on the side of the toddler tub and face plant into the actual tub. The whole thing was in slow-motion, but not more than a few seconds. I felt so bad as I scooped him up, checked for blood/injuries, and comforted him. Ryan came running up the stairs to check on us. Aric is fine, but I don't think I'll try to brush my teeth and wash my face while he's bathing anymore.

Which leads me to my dilemma... He's getting too big for the infant/toddler tub but just seems so small for the actual tub and the tub seems so slippery and huge. I haven't found anything yet that seems like it will work. I can't use another tub because he's pulling up now and Ryan will kill me if I stick those flower things in the bottom of the tub. (You know what I'm talking about.) Any ideas on what I can use to keep Aric safe in the big, wide tub? I've been to two Wal-Marts and one Target searching for an answer, but with no results yet.

Daycare

Today was Aric's first day at daycare and I almost cried on the way to work after dropping him off. I felt so silly, too. It's not like this was my first day to leave him, I've been back at work for five months now. I am happy with Miss Autumn and really think Aric will thrive there with the other children. It was just his first day of daycare.

Since I returned to work, Aric has been with either Ryan or Laura while I work and maybe an occasional day with a friend. In addition, all of his care has been one-on-one care. Now he's with 5 to 6 other kids which means he won't always be the center of attention. I know that's good for him, I don't want him growing up thinking he's the most important person in the world, however, I want him to get some attention and to feel loved. Daycare- it's just a word I'm going to have to get past. At least I have a three day break until he goes back.

Miss Autumn said that Aric had a good day. It was his first time to really spend a day around other children. He cried twice when other children were crying, because he seemed confused as to what was going on. Of course we have some kinks to work out: how much food he eats during the day (he was given less food than he normally eats), what the schedule for the day will be like (mommy left the house too early and had to sit in the car in a nearby parking lot and wait for 10 minutes) and the worst- we left his favorite pacifier at daycare.