Falling Into Place

Things are finally starting to fall into place here. My goals last week were to find daycare and an apartment. I accomplished both!

Last Tuesday, I was able to call and confirm Remington's place at a recommended daycare center here. He started today and I think it went well.

Last Wednesday, I found an apartment and signed the lease Thursday. It's not much and is wood paneling paradise, but it'll do for now. It's pretty big and has brand new carpet. Remington already enjoys crawling around the place.

I went home over the weekend to see Remington and Landon after a week without them. Landon and I took Remington to the zoo for the first time. I was expecting at least one melt down (especially since it was so hot), but he did really well. He watched people more than the animals, but he would at least look at the animals directions if they were close to the cages.

On Sunday we moved my stuff into the apartment. I'm finally getting to relax for a little bit about this whole situation. I love all the staff at the schools here. Work will continue to be stressful (it's just that kind of job), but it will all work out. I'm thinking positively.

Beginning of the craziest year ever.

This is long, but this is how crazy, fast, weird, and strange my life has been lately. About 3 weeks ago I found out that I have to go to Oklahoma ( I live in Kansas) to work for at least a year. So, I right away found openings and applied to places. I sent some resumes two Thursdays ago. Two school districts got the resume and called me the next Monday morning (last week). I was able to set up interviews with both on the same day, which was on Thursday. I was going to drive to Oklahoma that day for both interviews.


On Thursday, I left at 6am to drive 4 hours to Bartlesville, OK for an interview at 10am. I was done with it in an hour then I drove an hour and half to Ponca City, OK to have an interview there. When I got into that town, I got a call from Bartlesville offering me a job (2 hours after the interview), I told them I'd have to talk to my husband and I'd let them know. I drove around Ponca City then to get a feel for the town I might be moving to and to wait until the interview at 3:30pm. That's when the entire day went to ruin...

My car broke down about an hour and a half before the interview! The throttle cable broke or came loose- whatever. Cars seriously hate me. Well, I'm panicing because I'm 2 hours from home or anyone that can come help me. I called Landon and tried to figure out what to do. I then got on my phone and found a cab company to call. I called them to get me and take me to Wal-mart for a bit before the interview. I luckily broke down in a bank parking lot because the cab only took cash (which I didn't have). So, I ran into the bank to get cash. I had to contact a bank person who had to call my bank to verify funds (out of state check cashing) so I could get some cash. I make it to Wal-mart and walk around a bit. I call the cab back and head to the interview.

Before the interview I called my brother and sister to come with a trailer to load up the car. If they left right away they'd be there a little after my interview. Or that was the plan....

After the interview, I called my sister to see how far they'd made it. They hadn't even left yet!!! They waited until my mom got off work at 5:00pm -which is what time it was then. I didn't know what to do, so I just called the cab to take me back to Wal-mart to waste time until someone came to help me. I walked around Wal-mart while they got things ready and came for me- they also ended up picking up Landon and Remington.

I'm getting super tired of walking around, but I can't contact anyone because my phone was completely dead. I had no idea when they would come. 7 came and went, then 8, then 9pm!!! It's only a 2 hour drive, but they didn't get to me until 9pm!! I had walked around Wal-mart for FIVE HOURS!! What a disaster. We picked up the car, which of course, Landon was able to fix in two seconds and drive home!

He just had to put the cable back on. Now, I've had enough car break downs and have been a mechanic's daughter long enough to not be stupid about cars, but come on!! I didn't know about throttle cables. Oh, I was mad that it was that easy to fix. And Landon seriously was able to drive it all the way back home without any problems. Grr.

Anyway, we got home that night around 1am. The next day I called Bartlesville and accepted the job. So here is more craziness. School starts for all kids on Wednesday!! I'm hired Friday and have to be at the school Monday (today). I don't have a place to stay or daycare for Remington.

So, Remington is staying back in Kansas with Landon this week while I'm staying in a hotel alone trying to find daycare and an apartment!!! I miss them so much!!

As if it can't get worse--- Landon already made plans to go to Sturgis, SD for the motorcycle thing. While I'm here in Oklahoma, Landon is in Kansas until tomorrow night (Tuesday) then he's in South Dakota until late Thursday night. And where is Remington???? He's being shuttled around between my parents and my mother-in-law.

I will drive back this weekend hopefully with daycare and an apartment lined up. The rest of this school year, Remington will stay with me during the week and I'll drive back to Landon every weekend. We're not going to sell our house in McPherson (we want to stay there), so this Oklahoma thing is for this year at least.

Seriously, can life get any more complicated??? How has your week been?

Back to Work

These last two days have been hard.

Monday was my first day back to work after maternity leave. My mom came to our house to watch Remington. I was good with leaving him and heading to work. All day at work I was so busy that I barely had to time think about not being with Remington. Then I came home. I still wasn't upset about being gone all day. After my mom left and Landon got home, though, I realized how much I had missed him. I started crying again. By this time, I think Landon thinks I'm starting to go nuts with how much I cry. I've cried more these past two months than I have in years. He understands though. I just felt so many mixed emotions. I missed Remington, but I was glad to have a break. I was bored at home, but didn't want to go back to work. I just didn't know how to feel.

Today was worse in the morning. Last night I was also crying because I was nervous about today. Remington went to daycare for the first time ever. I know the daycare person is perfectly capable, but it's hard to let someone you barely know watch your baby all day. I can't wait until I can pick him up again. I was good to drop him off, but cried a little bit when I was in the car and leaving to head to work. It's also hard when people ask me if it was hard to leave him and come back because it is. I don't want to talk about it to coworkers though, because I'll end up crying again. I also know nothing really about daycare. I never went to daycare and don't really know how it all works.

I felt bad yesterday and today when Remington smiled at my mom and the daycare lady instead of looking at me. I now know how Landon felt when I was seeing him smile, but Remington wouldn't really smile at him when he got home. I know in my head that everything will work out and that Remington knows who his mom is, but it's still hard when he'll go to and smile at anyone. I'm going to be a mess when he gets old enough to not want to leave me.

Weird things people say and the end of maternity leave

When you cart a baby around with you 24/7 you're going to have people ask about the baby. Most of the time they ask how old he is. I don't really have people ask me if Remington is a boy or girl- I think he definitely looks like a boy and I usually have him dressed in blue. One weird thing people ask is if he's a good baby... How are you supposed to respond to that? No, he's always disobeying and back talking me. One more night of his crying and I'm shipping him off to military school. I mean, what do people expect you to say? I just respond with, Yes, he's pretty good.

I haven't updated about Remington's 2 month doctor appointment yet, so here it is: Remington's doctor appointment was last Wednesday (Dec. 30). He was weighed first thing and was 9 pounds 11 1/2 ounces! I'm so glad he's continuing to gain weight. He's still in the 10th %ile though. He hasn't gotten any longer- 21 1/4 inches (5th %ile), or a bigger head either- 15 inches (10th %ile). The doctor didn't seem concerned though since we had so many problems at first. Just as long as he's going, it's okay for now. The doctor checked his heart, lungs, and movement. He has good neck control when he's sitting upright, but still can't quite support it when he's lifted from being on his back. It was amusing when she was trying to get him to lift and turn his head when laying on his stomach. She put him on his stomach on the doctor table thing and had me go to the side in which he didn't have his head turned. Then she had me talk to him and try to get him to lift and turn his head to see me. He tried so hard. He just kicked his legs and flailed around so much she thought he was going to roll over (which he didn't- he can't quite accomplish that milestone yet). He kicked and kicked until he was rotating himself around to face me. It was very cute. Even though he can't quite turn his head, he's pretty good on milestones.
I thought the doctor was going to give him his 2 month immunizations, but apparently I have to set that up with the health department. I'll give them a call on Monday.

Tomorrow I have to go back to work. I'm so not looking forward to it. It will be nice to get a break from Remington, but I know I'll miss him too. I'm just worried about how much I stress about work anyway that now it's going to be worse since I'm stressed taking care of Remington. Tomorrow won't be so bad since my mom will be watching him at our house, but then it's off to daycare. I've blogged about daycare before here and here. I'll let you know how the first week back to work goes, until then...

Praying for Weight Gain

One of the few times you want someone to gain weight is for Remington to at least get back to his birth weight. Well, he's almost there.

After going into work this morning for an IEP meeting (yeah, during my maternity leave time) that was rescheduled from Monday after the parents were no shows, I took Remington into the doctor for a weight check. The nurse had me undress him down to his diaper again (like at every weight check) and put him on the scale. I was relieved right away when it read 7 lbs 9.5 oz. Yay! Remington is a half ounce from his birth weight. He still needs to gain more though to get up to where he should be at a month old. The supplementing is working! The doctor came in a told me that it's good that he's gaining weight again. She wrote me a prescription for Reglan, which is a drug they give for morning sickness, but it also increases milk production. I'm supposed to take it 4 times a day for 10 days. I'm also to continue supplementing, but only give him the bottle if he acts like he wants it. In 2 weeks, I'll go back to the doctor and we'll see how Remington is doing.

I'm so glad he's doing better. He's also sleeping better after the supplementing too (more on that in a later post).

In other news today... While I was at work, my brother and sister watched Remington and the house. We've been needing to finish out our basement before everyone comes over for Christmas, and mostly needed someone to install carpet. We bought the carpet and pad, but needed it installed. We finally found someone and he came over today at 8am. I got back home from work and the doctor around 10 and he was completely finished with the installation! I was impressed, it only took him 2 hours and $175. I'm glad we found him and didn't do it ourselves. We still need to do some touch up work before it's ready for the holiday, but it's so much further now. Today was a good day!

We finally have a crib!!!

After more than 5 months of waiting, we finally have a crib for Remington. Luckily he hasn't come early since we only have 5 days left! Landon and I went to the store yesterday, picked up the crib, and stayed up putting it together. It really wasn't that complicated. Landon had no problem putting it together. I really love the color and design and it looks great with the bedding and the room.

With the days getting closer, I don't know what to think. I've been preoccupied with getting everything done at work before I leave. It's stressing me out. I'm just glad that he hasn't come early and is giving me a chance to make sure everything is ready. I can already tell that it's going to be hard to come back after leave ends in January. At least all the IEPs and high need students are ready. Tomorrow is our doctor's appointment. I highly doubt that I'm dialated at all. I haven't even felt any contractions really. We'll ask if we can induce on Halloween, and hopefully we can. I'll post more tomorrow. Now enjoy the pictures of the crib and the nursery.

Almost summer

Only 3 more days with students and then summer!!!! I took on 3 students over the summer, so I'll see them for three weeks in June. I can't believe my first year of a real job is almost done. It seems like I just started. My students will be surprised when I come back next year with a huge stomach. I didn't tell any of them. Landon and I have been debating our name choices as we get closer to knowing if we'll have a boy or girl. We're pretty set on Remington for a boy, but I'm starting to not like Garrison so much. For our girl names, we're kinda reconsidering Kilexa. We love the name, but it's too similar to friends' name choices, and our families have never really liked it. I still want a girl's name that can be shortened to Ki, so right now I'm really liking Kaia- Landon isn't set on that yet though. Next weekend I hope to take a shopping trip to Wichita and look at baby stores and see on maybe buying a crib or carseat. I'm just ready to start buying something for the baby.