Two By Two

I know that I am probably going to jinx it but things are starting to look up for us.. YAY!

I got the official call from Concorde the other day with those wonderful words "You have been officially accepted to the LPN program " :) I have orientation at 1 pm on the 13th and the school starts full time on the 17th. I can't wait, I'm so excited. Kethery says that if I have any problems during the school I can call her for help. Jen says the same thing. :) YAY!!!!!!!! The only part that sucks... is having to wait.

Then Doug and I have been filling out application after application for Doug to get another job. When that ended up not yielding anything promising I asked him to call the security companies that he had already had contracts with to see if they had a post that he might be able to take, at least in the interim between now and finding something that worked for us better. Thursday he got 3 calls for an interviews. He went to an interview this morning at 9am and the offered him a job on the spot. A security post which he was hoping to be able to do. It is Monday through Thursday from 5pm until 3am. Which means that it will give me time to get home and him time to get to work and then him time to get home and me time to get to work. We won't really see each other much during those days but he has a 3 day weekend and I have the weekends off. And the weekends can be left open for overtime if we decided he wants it. YAY!!!!!

River is doing wonderful :) Getting so big.. *sniff* It's funny when I was pregnant I watched a bunch of those TLC or Discovery Health channels about birth and delivery and newborns etc.. and thought.. wow.. I can't wait until the baby gets here.. that seems so far away.. and now the kid is closing in on 5 months old and that stage seems so far away too. The last two days he had a jar of Butternut Squash each day.. He likes it.. I think? He makes a weird face when he gets it in his mouth but doesn't really spit it out and then as soon as he takes a bite he puts his thumb in his mouth and sucks for a minute or so and then looks for more. Does that mean he needs to suck in order to move the food back? Should we wait a while longer? *shrug* We are going to start Green Beans tomorrow I think. Maybe.. depending on how the kiddo is feeling. He's been a bit bratty the last few days. I want to change his carseat to a convertible car seat because he absolutely dispises his infant carrier because he wants to sit up like a big boy and the carseat makes it so he cant. I think with the convertible car seat he'll be upright a little more but still facing backwards like he is supposed to be.

We are going to a small little thing here in Orange Park for the 4th of July. Close enough to the house that if River completely freaks out during the show we can come home easy enough. Looking forward to it.

Still sleeping like crap. Don't know why. I have mood stabilizers that suck as mood stabilizers but are really good as a sleepy pill. LOL So I take about a half of those before bed and they knock me out for a good few hours. If I take a whole one I'm out for 12 hours.. so tempting to take a whole one. *yawn*

We tried to start River on solids today.. or at least we gave him a chance. ROFL what a trip.. he loved the process.. liked the food.. but isn't quite ready for solids.. he still sticks his tounge out as soon as something is placed on it and tries the tongue thrust stuff.. he got it everywhere but he did eat some of it and made some wonderful faces. We're going to wait until 6 months I think before we give him anything else but I am considering this his first food :) here are some pictures

Doug is out hunting for a job.. he has called me a few times with job applications that need to be done on line so I've done them for him.. I've done 5 this morning and 2 last night and he's done 3 or 4 so far this morning so hopefully SOMETHING will come back.. if we can get him a job it will make him feel so much better and make things much easy to figure out as far as daycare if we need it and everything else. If we do need daycare I'm not sure how we're going to pay for it unless Doug starts work really soon and we get a pay check before River starts daycare but I don't think that's going to happen. *sigh* stress stress stress. I have 20 days before school starts, need to get a little bit of supplies.. need to find a backpack to carry it all in. I'm excited but I'm nervous and I'm afraid we won't be able to figure out a way for this all to work and I won't be able to do it. So if everyone would send us some good thoughts so we can get him a job, it would be much appreciated.

River is doing well. Getting big.. he is trying so hard to crawl and just can't quite figure out the movements needed.. he'll get it soon though. Still no teeth but lots of drool. His new thing is to hang with mommy and daddy until he absolutely can't keep his eyes open anymore and then he'll go to bed and sleep until 10 the next morning LOL Definately gonna be a night owl like his parents :)

Well I did it... I got my hair cut.. first time in.. 9 years? I got 9-10 inches taken off.. the lady said my hair would be classified as chemically damaged from all the dying over the years so I wasn't able to donate it but it feels SOOOOOOO much lighter..

I also got a call today from the nursing school.. FINALLY.. to set up a time for the final interview with the Dean of Admissions. I go Thursday at 1pm. If I get in the school starts in 3 weeks. :) Lots to do :)

Here is a picture of my dad, my aunt Donna, and River from Sunday when they were here...

Nothing like sleeping on the couch next to daddy for an afternoon nap :)

Except maybe trying to figure out how to fit the kitty in my mouth...

River had his Upper GI today. He had to drink an 8 oz bottle of Barium while they did it so they could watch it work it's way through his body. He was supposed to go in at 9:45.. they asked what time I fed him last. I told them right before 7 and they said I wasnt' supposed to feed him and that we'd either have to wait or reschedule. UGHHHHH no one told us not to feed him, we even asked about special restriction specifically.. stupid people. So 4 1/2 hours after his first bottle he had his Barium.. he INHALED it. I think the poor baby was starving. She said they were mostly for two abnormalities and he had neither of them. YAY! Said she would take a look at everything else and send results to the doctor. *shrug* So he's asleep now. Been sleeping basically all day because he had another late night last night and early morning.

WIC didn't want to pay for his formula this month.. said they wanted to challenge his formula and try him back on GoodStart.. (a milk based formula). I told them the Gastrointrologist said he didn't want it challenged until 8-9 months at least. She said they had to have it in writing.. I gave it to her. They are going to challenge him at 9 months unless a doctor protests. I don't blame them for not wanting to pay it.. 25 dollars a can for 8 cans a month.. UGHHH expensive stuff. So they went ahead and gave us the checks and we got his formula today.

So I learned a lesson tonight.... there are some things about being a new mom that other women don't tell you about. When you are pregnant everyone wants to tell you the down and dirty details about just how bad it can get and just what your body can and can't do anymore etc.. no one tells you these things about being a new mom..

So let me tell you.. don't laugh too hard even 4 months after having a baby because you just don't have the muscle strength you used to :X Yeah I about died of embarassment but Doug was wonderful and didn't laugh or anything.. I still cried.. but he was wonderful..

So yeah.. someone needs to write a book about the things that you aren't told about being a new mom.

Well last night sucked.. River had a bad night.

He wouldn't go to sleep.. ended up not going to bed until 10. Then he woke up around 11 screaming hysteracially and gagging and choking, turning dark red etc.. at one point I turned him on his belly and was patting him on the back pretty hard.. when I turned him back over (after he'd taken a breath and let out a scream) he had clear liquid (like saliva) running from his mouth and nose and then started choking again. I freaked out.. took him to Orange Park Medical.. which I shouldn't have because they don't do shit. The triage took 20 minutes to get his vitals. 20 minutes!!! By then he had calmed down immensely and was perfectly fine. We went through the ER anyway and the doctor said that it was probably saliva swallowed wrong in his sleep and it scared him. Said that if the baby had been blue and flaccid then we should worry but if he's red and making noise not to worry (easier said than done when he's scarlet from not being able to catch his breath). Said it might also be GERD (acid reflux) same thing he had from 0-3 months that he just stopped taking Zantac for about a month ago. BLAH!!!

So we get home and he has passed out basically so I put him down and went to bed.. an hour and a half later (3:30) he wakes up crying.. I let him for about 10 minutes then go in there. He was basically still asleep but had somehow rolled over onto his back and woke himself up... I rolled him back over and patted his back for a few minutes and he fell back asleep. 7am he decides he is done sleeping.. he seems perfectly fine today.. *shrug* I wonder if that waking up means his teeth are getting ready to come through. A friend of mine has a son about the same age as River and her son did basically the same thing a few days before his first tooth came through.

Yeah so I'm exaughsted. Would love to go to sleep.. now if I can convince my 4 month old that HE would love to go to sleep it would be all good. LOL

River had his 4 month well baby visit today... he is getting so big!

He weighs 14 lbs 14 oz (25-50th %). He is 24 3/4 inches long (50th %) and 17 inch head (50th %).

He also had to get 3 shots (actually 5 vaccines). He cried/screamed until they let go of him and let us pick him up and then he promptly put his thumb in his mouth and passed out. Poor boy.. I figure he'll probably sleep most of the day.

The doctor was so impressed with him. She had him stand on the table and he tried to walk toward her (with her help of course) and she put him on his belly so that he was looking at me and he had his head all the way up and was trying so hard to scoot toward me but couldn't quite figure it out. She is said he is doing beautifully. Advanced all the way across the board.

She wants to keep him on the Nutrimagen until at least 6 months of age. When we go back for his next visit in August we'll talk about solids then but we don't plan on starting him on any solids until at least 6-7 months to try and cut back on the chance of allergies. She gave us another form to take to WIC so they will continue to pay for his nutrimagen (25 dollars a can and he goes through 9 cans a month).

Here are a few pics from yesterday when he turned 4 months :)

Hey All,

Well we had a fun day here. Doug and I went to the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville today. They were having a fundraising event and the Jacksonville Herpatilogical Society had set up a booth to have people from the Society volunteer to bring in their reptiles and show them to the parents and children to help try and show children that reptiles aren't scary.. so we volunteered to go. We took our Columbian Red Tail Boa and we were there all day showing him off. It was very enjoyable and the baby was wonderful the whole time we were there.. only got fussy right as we were getting ready to leave.

Speaking of the baby... he is 4 months old tomorrow!!!! Where has the time gone???? He's getting so big. He goes Monday morning for his 4 month well baby visit. We'll get to find out how much he weighs and how long he is.. but he also gets his next round of shots :( *sigh* We sold the rest of his small cloth diapers on E-bay today.. made 50 dollars.. so we officially made 20 dollars more than we spent buying them when all is said and done.. WOO HOOO. We're going to try and cloth diaper him again during the day with better diapers. We really like the way the diapers feel on him and they are better for him (and cheaper for us) so we'll see. I have 4 of them coming next week and hopefully we can test those out and see what works if anything.

I am thinking about getting my hair cut.. like majorly cut.. of course I've been thinking about doing that for years but I am really getting sick of how heavy my hair is. So I got to thinking about it.. my hair now reaches my waist.. what if I cut off 10 inches and donate it to Locks of Love at least then it would be worth parting with it because I know it's going to a good cause. We figure the 10 inches would probably take my hair up to about between my shoulder blades.. hasn't been that short in about 6 years. LOL and if I can find a place around here that sponsors Locks of Love they will cut my hair for free as long as I am donating it.

I know it's stupid but I think the baby hates me.

Every day at least once a day he falls asleep in Doug's arms. With his head on his shoulder and his thumb in his mouth.. never has he done this with me.. he just cries and squirms and figets and cries and screams.. he doesn't want me.. only Doug. I feel like curling up and dying. This hurts so bad and I don't know why.. all I want is to hold my son and have him curl into me the way he does with Doug and fall asleep in my arms.

River has started waking up around 5:30 in the morning the last few days.. yesterday he woke up, Doug gave him a bottle and he went back to sleep until 9. Today he woke up, no one went in and he fell back to sleep in less than 2 minutes.. woke back up at 7:30. He has been consistantly sleeping until 9-9:30 for about 2 weeks now.. I can't figure out why all the sudden it's changed.. I don't know if it's a growth spurt, his teeth, or if he might be catching a bit if the cold I'm getting over.. and I don't know how to tell. I'm leaning toward the cold though because he's been super clingy the last few days.

We got Doug's check yesterday from his work.. they are cheating him out of about 150 dollars. Those 4 days last week that we had problems with them not relieving him on time so he got like 11-13 hours every day.. they changed his pay rate to 6.40 instead of the 9.00 he was supposed to get.. and he also got 3.75 hours of overtime at which they gave him a rate of 9.60. WTH???? We'll be speaking with them on Monday.