Today was pretty crummy weather so Andi and I went to the mall. I got a couple pairs of shorts and tank tops and a pair of shoes and I bought Bryan a pair of shorts and a hat and a jacket that he doesn’t need. I didn’t get Andi anything. She has so many clothes and toys that there’s not much to get her. We are all doing fairly well. I’m stressed out with my work. They are trying to redesign the entire patient check-in and scheduling process which sounds like a nightmare so far and is all supposed to start in a few months. It’s crazy and I think it will probably fail miserably. More to come on that in the upcoming months when we move to our new building and they start trying to do everything different. Bryan has been working a lot of weekends and that’s pretty much it. There have not been a lot of hours available to him. That is ok though because he can spend more quality time with Andi and has more time for studying. He’s half way through his RN classes now. He’s been doing one class every 5-6 weeks and is moving right along. It is all pretty much self pace and then he takes a final when he thinks he’s ready. There is no homework or tests in between. Just the final at the end. I’m concerned about the clinicals and have been hounding him to figure out if he needs to have a certain amount of hours of clinicals or how that all works. He thinks there will just be a test out on the clinicals and that’s it. Andi’s been doing better. Must be a little break between teeth coming in. I’m hoping the rest won’t bother her as much as the first 4 did. It’s so nice to not have her crying all day. She’s been really talkative lately. She’ll just gibber jabber all day long. All just baby talk yet. She’s been saying mumma a lot lately so that might be her first real word but I’m still not sure if she is saying mumma to me or just in general because she hears the word a lot. She is quite the crawler now. I bought a fancy baby gate for the kitchen to the back porch the has a little door on it rather than taking it up and down or trying to crawl over it on the steps. It’ still kind of a pain to have the gate. The opening is pretty narrow and I have to hold Andi’s car seat forward in order to get through the gate but it’s worth it for her safety. Pretty soon she won’t be in that baby car seat anymore. She’s still so tiny though so who knows when that will be. Bryan has an appointment at the firestation to have Andi’s carseat checked in my car. My middle seatbelt comes from behind the seat andit tips Andi’s car seat sideways so we’re not sure if we’re doing it wrong or if she should just be in one of the side seats. I think I’m going to get one of those instep bike trailers so we can take bike rides again. We haven’t been on one all summer. The one I’m looking at seats 2 kids and is convertible to a stroller. Pretty handy. We have plans to go to the Dells with our family at the end of the month and I think we’ll be going to summerfest at the beginning of July. I won tickets to the No Doubt concert there. I don’t even know what they sing, but free concert tickets. I’m sure I know some of there songs. I’m just horrible with remembering who sings what and what actors are in what movies and remembering anyones names. I guess that is all I can think of for now. Now I’m going to bed.
I put Andi to bed and am winding down for the night. It was a stressful day at work and at home. We were short staffed at work today and I didn’t even get a minute to stop and think. When I got home Bryan was pretty cranky because his blood sugar was low and Andi cried half the night like usual. Bryan calls her his little drama queen and Andi Grace with a pretty face who came from Outer Space. He probably picked up on all my weird comments. Maybe one child is enough. I just wish she could tell me what was wrong, but I’m guessing its her teeth and there’s not much I can do about that. Hopefully she will be in happier spirits when they come through. Does anyone know once the four front teeth come through, are we done for awhile or are the others right behind. Bryan still has not gotten much work. He’s plugging away at his classes though, in the absence of work, so thats good. I was so happy to have 70 degrees and Friday and Saturday and then today it snowed. Grrr. My work is going ok. They are cutting a lot of our benefits. They cut a day of vacation, our 401K contribution our pension plan and we didn’t get a raise this year. All that said, thankfully I still have a job and insurance so I’m not too upset about the whole thing when I’m seeing so many other people losing their jobs all together. It’s pretty much work and home for me. I went to Once Apon a Child a few weeks ago and got Andi some cute hats. I was looking for a spring jacket and never found one. I checked all the stores in the mall and Kohls. I ended up buying one on Ebay. Apparently children under the age of a year don’t need jackets. Andi is starting to do the army crawl a little. She uses her feet and arms but still refuses to get up on her knees. She’s been eating quite a bit of grown up food. Alot of the skins on things give her problems yet. We’ll find beans and tomatoes skins in her mouth a half hour after she ate them. She’s been trying all kinds of new foods and usually half of it ends up in her hair. Andi just turned 9 months old on Friday. I can’t believe how big she’s getting. Andi dances all the time. Whenever we clap or she hears a little jingle or I sing her a song, she will start dancing. Very cute. We had a nice Easter with our families. My grandma’s brother died so we ended up not going to her house because she was at his funeral. My parents are off to Florida again. Each time my mom comes back from Florida after being gone 3 weeks or a month she is so happy that Andi is still little. I tried her in some 6-9 month clothes and the pants still fall off her. The tops are a little better and I’m sure the dresses would fit if she doesn’t wear the little bloomers with them. She needs to fatten up a little to keep those pants up. Bryan and Andi are signed up for swimming lessons in July. It will only last 2 weeks but I think Bryan will have a good time doing that with her. It’s Monday thru Friday in the morning so I won’t be able to make it there because of my work schedule. It would be fun to watch so I’m a little sad to be missing it but glad Bryan will have the opportunity to do that with her. Well until next time. I can’t think of much else to say.
It’s been a month of ups and downs for us. The ups: Andi’s adoption was finalized. Cailey was born. Yeah!!! The downs: We had our arbitration hearing for my defective car. Bryan got laid off from his job. Bryan’s school enrollment has been delayed for a month. T he adoption went really smooth and quick. We were all really excited and not really sure what to expect. The judge came out and asked us if we wanted to adopt Andi and said all the papers looked in order and he signed the paperwork for approval. Then he came down and took a few pictures with us. I think it lasted about 10 minutes. We already got the birth certificate in the mail. The social security office is giving us a little grief. They want a medical record with Andi’s new last name and we don’t have anything since she doesn’t have an appointment until later in April. The doctor’s office computer program is unable to print anything for us until that appointment. The doctor gave me something that will hopefully work but I don’t think it counts as a medical record so we’ll see what the social security office says. The arbitration did not go well. Because my hyundai runs, the arbitrator did not approve our request to have Hyundai buy back our vehicle. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, since I bought my car brand new last year there has been an awful squeal every time I start it in cold weather. Hyundai claims the car is fine and is refusing to fix the squeal because they say it is a normal cold weather noise. So much for the awesome warranty, the reason we bought the SUV in the first place. Bryan got an email last Saturday night from his manager saying that he was told he needed to cut back on budget so Bryan was laid off as of now. No warning and no phone call. He has applied at a few staffing agency’s and was able to pick up one shift for tonight in Berlin. Better than nothing. Hopefully he will be able to pick up some more shifts closer to home and be able to find a permanent position in the near future. There are not any LPN openings out there right now 3rd shift because of the economy. Even the health-care field is on a hiring-freeze in our area. Thankfully he can get unemployment in the meantime. We did not realize that it would take so long for Bryan to get enrolled into the Exelcier College Nursing Program that partners with The College Network. Bryan has been taking on line classes for his RN license but now Excelsier is not allowing him to take the finals or any more classes while they are processing his enrollment paperwork. It has been about a month now. Crazy. He has been waiting 3 weeks to take the final for the class he’s in right now. They keep telling him it should be done next week. Andi has been learning new things every day. I call her my little buttercup. I don’t think that’s even a word. It’s a weird nickname for her, I know. She will wave to people on occasion now and we taught her how to clap. She’s having fun with that one. She claps my face all the time now. I’ve been working on “no” with her now. She loves to pull my hair and is getting pretty strong. She has been doing a lot of crying lately. I’m hoping it’s just because her tooth is coming in or it’s a little phase she’s going through. I can’t leave the room anymore with out her crying. It’s been wearing on my nerves a little. Then of course I feel guilty because I know she’s just a baby and I’m sure it’s just as frustrating for her as it is for me that she can’t tell me why she’s so upset all the time. She will be 8 months already tomorrow. I’m going to start her on some more solid foods. She’s already doing the breads and Cheerios and crackers and banana’s. Now I just have to find some other healthy soft foods she can eat. She has a hard time picking the little banana pieces up because they are too slippery for her with her slimy little hands. I’m happy it’s so nice out the last few days. I think Andi Mona and I will go for another walk tomorrow after work. We all usually get a little muddy, but it’s worth the fresh air. Take care everyone.
We are so glad to make it official today. Welcome to the family Andi. Love mommy.
I guess Amy had her surgery around 11 p.m. last night. They did it in her room so it was probably not too major of surgery. I believe they drained some blood from the hematoma and that helped relieve alot of the pain/pressure she was having. My mom said Pete called and she is feeling much better since the surgery.
Amy called from the hospital and said she’s going to need surgery. She has a hematoma, which I think is a fancy word for bruise. I talked to Katie for a few minutes about it and Katie said that they normally go away on their own but if they want to do surgery it is probably getting worse instead of better. I don’t know how serious it is but serious enough for surgery. Please keep her in your prayers tonight and tomorrow morning.
I got a phone call from Pete just after 2:00 and Cailey has been born!! Amy and Cailey are both doing well. Cailey was 6 lb 8oz. Amy’s labor was much shorter than we expected. She was induced this a.m. so we thought Cailey would be born tomorrow. She is at AMC. I’m sure Amy will update with pics and more details in the near future.
Andi Mona and I got out for a nice walk today. I think we all really enjoyed it. We were all a little wet and muddy when we got home. Bryan is now having car problems too. They are going to work on putting in a new transmission Friday and maybe fix his steering that is all out of wack. My car issues are going to the Better Business Bureau and possibly arbitration. I’m not sure what all will happen with that but I hope Hyundai just buys my car back so I don’t have to deal with them anymore ever again. Bryan passed the final for his first class. He only has 6 more to go and his clinicals and boards. Hopefully he will finally be done this year with school. The finalization is March 5. Yeah!! What a long process. I’m glad its almost done. She’s been ours since she was a day old though. Last night Andi screamed and cried most the night. I was so frustrated with her. So, of course, then I felt guilty all day because I know she’s just a little baby who can’t tell me what’s wrong and why she’s crying. Tonight was a good night and she barely cried at all so I am much happier. Andi has been eating a lot of baby food. She has a hard time getting used to new foods. It took her a couple weeks to like applesause and carrots. She still doesn’t like beans or sweet potatoes. Tommorrow I’m going to try her with peas. She does like little pieces of bread, pancakes, those little puffs things and pickles. So far shes not too good with picking them up and putting them in her mouth. Her bottem teeth have to be coming in pretty soon. I can see them through her gums but they still haven’t broke skin. She rolls across the room now if she feels like it. She sits up pretty well but still tips over a lot too. She shakes her head back and forth “no” now and shakes her whole body like a crazy person. I taught her that one. She says mom, but there is no meaning behind it yet. She likes to yank on my hair so I’ll probably be getting it chopped when I get a chance. This weekend is guys weekend but also Valentines Day too. Bryan said he wants to spend Valentine’s Day with his two girls. Awe. I think he will be going up to the cottage later Saturday evening. All guys are invited up there to play cards drink and go snowmobiling and whatever other things they do that I don’t hear about. Amy should be having Emma Em any day now. I don’t know whats taking her so long to come out. She was supposed to be born early and at the rate she’s going she going to be born late. I did my taxes and it said I’m getting everything back from federal. I think I did something wrong but I guess we’ll see. If not, Bryan and I will have a pretty nice return. I’ll have to go shopping. I’m running out of things to buy though. Andi’s got a wardrobe for the next year already and Bryan just ruins everything I buy the guy so it’s hard to justify buying him clothes and he already doesn’t have room for anymore tools or snowmobiles. Don’t you just love Andi’s hair in this picture. Well, gotta run. Have a good night all.
It’s an exciting day for the books. Obama’s inauguration day. I didn’t even get to see it because I was working and tried to catch a re-run of it tonight but all they had was the inauguration ball. I’m sure I can find it on the internet somewhere. Everything is going really well for us. We survived the 40 below days. Yesterday was our last meeting with our social worker and we should be getting papers in a week for Andi’s finalization court date. Yeah!! It’s almost here. Bryan has left for work for the evening. He seems to like the prison. Bryan will be switching to 10 hour shifts next week. My job is going fine as usual. We got an email that we may not be getting our 2% cost of living raise so this year our health insurance cost will go up as usual and my pay rate will not. It’s pretty depressing but at least I have a job and insurance so I can be thankful for that. Andi is cute as ever. She’s been rolling over a lot lately. Still teething and still no teeth. She slept until 10 a.m. this morning for Bryan. Sleep seems to take precidence over food for her. Andi has been eating her baby food well. She’s been eating carrots applesauce and rice cereal so far and I plan to start her on another veggie shortly. Andi was 6 months old on Saturday. I can’t believe how fast they grow. I’m sure I’ve probably written that in every blog so far. Andi’s favorite toys are her exersaucer and her little singing animals. She has been doing a lot of hair pulling so I will be getting a hair cut very shortly. Not a lot of exciting news at the moment.
I’m getting really excited for the holidays. I love spending time with the family and all the food. We have get togethers Wed Thurs Fri Sat and Sun. It’s a week of Christmas. We might as well switch to Hanukkha. Just kidding. Andi will be a little young to get excited about opening gifts this year but I’m so happy that we get to spend Christmas with our new baby. I’m sure she will have a ton of fun with all the family. She seems to love everyone and so far doesn’t seem to care who’s got her. Bryan had his tonsils out Wed along with some nose restructuring and a tube out of his ear. His throat has been really sore. He’s already lost 10 lbs from not eating for 3 days. It’s a good diet. He did eat a tiny bit yesterday and today and snowblowed the driveway this morning so he’s getting his strength back a little. Hopefully by Christmas he’ll be feeling a little better. We just got 8″ of snow Friday and now we are supposed to get another 10″ tonight, I guess. Andi has added quite a few different sounds to her vocabulary. She’s got the mmm and bbbb sound down now so I’m hoping by next week she’ll be able to say mamma and babba. Maybe my hopes are a little far fetched. I’m so excited for her to learn new things and so sad at the same time that she is getting so big already and I won’t ever get this baby time back. She has been doing really well with her baby food. She’s been on rice cereal for about a month now. The other day I gave her her first fruit. Avacodo’s. Weird choice, right. I just happened to be making guacamole and thought I’d put a little aside for Andi. She seemed to like it. She shook her head a few times as if it were sour or something but I think it was just her tastebuds trying something with actual flavor for the first time. She kept coming back for more and she seemed to like it the second day too. I made baby applesauce and carrots. I think I will start her on carrots next. One of my co-workers said she gave her kids veggies first because you know they’ll like fruit. Her theory was that the baby might be a better veggie eater growing up if she starts on them first. Might as well give that theory a try. Andi has been rolling over occasionally from her tummy to her back. I think she has the ability to do it but then forgets how so she’ll roll over 3 times in a matter of 5 minutes and then she’ll forget how for a few days and then she’ll figure it out again. That little arm has to be in just the right spot in order for it to work. I’m not in a super huge hurry for her to learn how to roll over. Once she has that down, she’ll be all over the place. Right now I’m content with laying her on the floor and knowing she hasn’t rolled away. She loves her little (and by little, I mean huge) exersaucer. She hasn’t shown much interest in supporting herself with her legs and I would say she has another month before she has the sitting up thing down pat. You never know though. Bryan and I have had a couple shocks already on things she learned and we didn’t even realize she could do. Bryan has decided to go back to school for his RN lisence through the college network. It will basically be online/self paced program. From the sounds of it, it will be another 3 years before he gets back in at the tech and we’re both sick of waiting. Besides the nursing program at the tech is so horribly run he doesn’t even want to go back there anyway. If anyone ever meets anyone thinking about going to school for nursing, I highly recommend the 4 year college rather than the 2 year tech program. The wait list is ridiculous at the techs. If you spend 4 years waiting to get into the tech program and another 2 years taking the classes, you may as well gone for your bacholers degree. There is a lot more opportunities for Bacholers in Nursing too. Well, that’s all I can think of for now. I’m going to go to the grocery store now.
