Things Lately

Hello, Internet. Yes, I am still alive. And not doing too bad, actually. Well, at the moment, that is. The days are passing quickly and Catherine is getting giant. She rolled over for the first time about two weeks ago. Or was it three? It was in the month of October, of that I'm sure. And she is so cute, rolling over and over. She is doing great. Although she still occasionally refuses the bottle at school. What can I say? She is in love with the boob. Let's just hope that she doesn't nurse until she is almost three years old like her big sister. Still no teeth to speak of, although she explores the world around her every second of the day, it seems. She is always grabbing at stuff, chewing on something, and smiling and laughing. Oh, my Catherine is a good, sweet baby. It is so easy to love her. She rarely needs a pacifier. She laughs and smiles often. I am so in love.

As for the big sister in the house...Sofia has gotten over lots of the anxiety that came with starting a new school, and for that I am very happy. She continues to have a love/hate relationship with her ballet class on Saturday mornings which I could really do without. Every Saturday we go to my parents' house. Sofia loves it, but if any of her cousins drop in, she hates it. For some reason, she thinks she is the only grandchild deserving of my parents' attention. It is really annoying, and I tell her over and over again that they had nine grandchildren before her, but she doesn't care. She really bonded with them while we were staying with them in the spring and now greedily wants them all to herself. I have to say that I'm happy that she loves them so much. They adore her as well.

I love her school. They are teaching her some good stuff! She has a music class and a tumbling class twice a week. She is learning how to write her letters and her daddy is teaching her how to read. She is actually starting to read three letter words. Very exciting! She is beautiful, and I am so proud of my little stinker Wee. My little stinkerbell.

As for myself, I am working. I'm getting a lot done, and I have deadlines and everything. And the best part is I am working at home. I can get so much done AND go for a walk in the morning, AND get some grocery shopping done, AND pick up the kids before 5 pm, AND actually cook a meal that involves real food. The kind that grows. And we planted a vegetable garden a few weeks back and I can actually water it everyday. It is so weird. I really, really love it. Sure, I miss some of the people I worked with, but I love working at home. I keep expecting my job to tell me that I can't do it anymore, but I sure hope that doesn't happen. Oh, and I got an IPod, and I love it. I am finally listening to some new music.

Oh, and I'm so HAPPY that Obama got elected! I still can hardly believe it's real. I have to admit, I was pulling for Hillary, but I was always an Obama fan and I loved his acceptance speech. It was amazing.

Not everything is perfect. Not everything always is, but we're working through things and enjoying life now. I hope things stay okay for us with the economy being such a mess. I hope everyone else is well.

I miss you, internet! I hope to post pic's of my angels soon.

Changes

So, here I am at home. The kids are at school and the house is eerily quiet. I don't know if I'll be able to take it if this is what working at home will be like. WEIRD!

I start back at work in mid-September except that I'll be working from home. Not sure what it will be like. Sofia is adjusting well to school. I picked her up early yesterday and she cried because she didn't want to leave. She wanted to eat lunch at school with the other kids. I guess that's a good sign. Catherine is adjusting to taking the bottle while I'm gone. She put up a fight the first couple of days, refusing the bottle, then finally giving in after extreme hunger and sucking the entire bottle down.

I really like the school so far. It is very close, small, and the teachers are great. I'm happy they are there.

I guess I'm entering a new phase with the kids gone and me starting work soon. Yet another adjustment for me. With the move to San Antonio, the new house, Catherine, school, now me working at home, I feel like I'll never just settle into a routine. The last few months have just been very crazy. But on the positive side, I love all the changes we've had so far. I love my Catherine so much. She is absolutely beautiful. She is the best baby I could have ever hoped for, and I adore her with all my soul. I have cherished the last few months with Sofia, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Sofia turned three years old, by the way, this past Sunday and we had a great little party for her at the house. And I love this house we are in, and I hope we grow old in it and the kids grow up and love this house and this neighborhood. I'm so happy to be near family again.

Update

Both kids are sleeping. Husband went to bed a little while ago, and here I am. I feel like I'll never get back to normal. I feel like I live in one of those "life comes at you fast" commercials. Catherine is two and half months old. She is beautiful and such a great baby. She smiles and coos and really, really loves her mama. Sofia is good with her, but still drives me nuts when she gets way too close and kisses her on the mouth and pries her fingers apart and stuff.

My beautiful Miss Catherine was 12 lbs at her two-month checkup. It's so weird how different the two children are as babies and how different I am as a mom the second time around. I feel like I can appreciate the babyness much more easily this time around. I think I felt a little shell-shocked with Sofia. Going back to work will be tough.

We got both girls into a pre-school. That alone was an absolutely crazy experience. Somehow between the pregnancy, moving, buying a house, having the baby, unpacking, freaking out, etc I forgot to start looking for a daycare/preschool for the kids. Eventually I am going back to work. My start date is mid-September, so last week I hustled and made myself a royal pain the butt for the place I wanted to put my kids. They start next Monday. Well, Sofia starts, but I'm not parting with Catherine just yet. I'll be dropping her off little by little so she can get used to the folks there. Good thing is I will literally be just a few blocks away from the place. And I'll be working from home as long as my job will let me. I'm supporting my Houston job from San Antonio and I don't know how long I can keep that up.

August 21st is my wedding anniversary and we're not even celebrating. We have our parents' meet the teacher night at the preschool. Then this weekend we're having Sofia's birthday party for her birthday Sunday. Then she starts school Monday. I feel like my head has been spinning for months.

All summer has been strange, but good. Sofia, myself, and Catherine. Sofia and I got to spend a lot of time together, and I'm pretty sad having to part with her. She is still very much my baby. Life is tough, but I love my girls more than anything in the world.

Something to blog about

Our new arrival, Catherine Eve, made her way into the world May 30, 2008 at 6:44 am. She is such a beautiful and good baby! Labor was painful, but the epidural made it bearable. Robert and I rushed over to the hospital around 2 am after a full day of labor pains. Sofia came to visit her new sister the next day.

We are living in San Antonio. Just bought and moved into our new house a week before Catherine got here. Things are crazy and boxes are everywhere, but we're doing what we can. The husband went back to work this morning and I find myself in a mild state of panic trying to figure out how I will care for this newborn baby and keep Sofia entertained, along with doing dishes and laundry and the like. Other people have done it, right?

And still my hormones are raging and I think about how I miss work a little and I'm not sure what I'll do when my maternity leave is over (can't believe that, but it's true). My job is letting me support Houston activities while I work remotely from San Antonio. It wasn't too bad these last couple of months but I suspect it will get harder to do.

I suppose I should end this post before both children wake up. Sofia went to bed yesterday at 6:30 pm and is still asleep. It's 8 am. That child refuses to take naps, and it is so hard on all of us. Then she ends up collapsing in fatigue around 6 pm, waking up, and not going back to sleep until midnight or so. Last night we kept her asleep somehow. Catherine is awesome. She nurses beautifully and only wakes up when she's hungry. She does have a raging diaper rash, which breaks my heart every time I change her. I feel powerless. I've tried two types of desitin and aquaphor and nothing seems to be clearing it up. The doc said to blow dry her bottom. I've done it a few times, but not enough apparently. She's also a little congested so we're sleeping with a humidifier.

I am not looking forward to another hot day. San Antonio heat is dry and brutal. I actually miss the humid, rainy weather of Houston. At least it rains there. Here half our yard is dead because the lady we bought from never watered her grass. And I can't bring myself my go outside in the afternoon. It is absolutely too HOT.

I will do my best to post later. I have no job right now because of maternity leave, but I know that blogging will be harder than ever.

Decisions

It seems that the only time I blog is when I'm feeling emotional or pissed off or sad. In fact, my husband told me that I shouldn't blog anymore because people would think that my life really sucks. I told him I'd blog if I damn well pleased, and that if he had something to say about it he should start his own blog.

Anyway, here I am. I've been away for quite some time. In that time, I've managed to get knocked up and turn 32 years old. In that order. I am about 5 and half months now. And this pregnancy is so different from my first. With Sofia I was always checking the internet to see what was happening in my baby's development stages. I was always obsessing about my registry. I was always doing SOMETHING with respect to the baby. This pregnancy? Not so much. I spend most of my days working and just trying to get through the day and keeping up with Sofia, who is now 2 and half. In some ways I feel a little guilty for not thinking as much about the fetus, but in some ways I think it's good. At least I don't have the stress of not knowing what to expect. I think that's what a lot of what it was with Sofia. It was all big unknown. Pregnancy and mommyhood. Not that I have it all figured out, but I at least have an inkling of what I'm in for.

So my husband just got a job offer in San Antonio. And now my life feels like someone flipped it upside down. Part of me wants to jump for joy and move in a heartbeat to be near my family and not work and have this baby. The other part of me wants to cry all the time and freak out about selling our beautiful first house (in a crappy market) and having to move in with my parents in San Antonio until we sell the house. And losing my health insurance and having to go on my husband's. And losing our second income. And living with all this uncertainty. What if he hates his job? What if I'm just as lonely there as I am here? I haven't lived there in about fourteen years. What if we can't buy a great house somewhere with good schools? And I swear, I've cried everyday since Wednesday (the day he got the offer).

But it's a good career move for him. I couldn't care less about my career really. I'm serious. The only thing I'll miss is the money. We'll still be living on less than what I even make. I'll have to defer all my student loans. How do people make these decisions? One of my friends just moved from the Woodlands to Austin because her husband got a job there. They wanted to be closer to her family, but once they moved, they hated it and now they're back in the Woodlands.

I think we'll end up doing it. I just have to come to terms with it. I feel like I have the baby blues early with all the crying I've been doing lately. If we make the move, he starts March 10th. So not only is this an insanely tough decision, but we're super pressed for time. We even had a realtor come look at the house today.

And something that really scares me? Is this staying at home business. As much as I really really really want to do it, it scares the shit out of me. All day everyday with not only one kid, but two kids. On a tight budget. How do moms do it? How did my mom do it? She had five freakin' kids. Won't I run out of ideas of things to do? Won't my kids hate me because I'm so darn boring? Will I turn into a wicked witch of a mommy who constantly yells? Wait, I might be one of those already. So many things to think about...

Well, hello there

I went to a hair salon opening today. And I totally rock because I won a $75 gift certificate as a door prize. Oh yeah! And my toddler is asleep. And my husband is gone. He slipped out of the house muttering something like "I can't take this shit" after I got home from the celebration. See, he had been home watching the child. My cousin was gracious enough to go with me to the salon grand opening, which was totally fun, but my husband had to stay home with the child. I am a bit toasty, what with lots of margaritas. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I had a good time tonight. Which is important. I understand my hubby's frustration, but whatever. I spent two hours grocery shopping with the child earlier today. That was hell. How do people decide to have a second? Anyone? Miss Kellye is pregnant, BD just had her second, and Sabrina gave birth to a fourth? Holy moly. I really do want more than one child, but I feel crazy already. How does one make that decision? Oh yeah, I neglected to mention that my sister-in-law just had a third yesterday. WOW. She's still in the hospital.

I just created my new google account for this blog, and I decided to post something. I know I'm a sucky blogger, I don't need anyone to twist the knife. But I still love you internet. And I really love the one to three people who still periodically check back her for updates. You guys are awesome. I miss you!

Well, Hello There (and Happy Birthday to Me)

You know how when you haven't blogged in a while, you just keep thinking, "well, I can't blog now because I never blogged about that or this" and you just keep putting it off because of everything you haven't captured? Yeah, well, that's me. I longingly read other blogs wishing I could just set the gosh darn time aside to blog. You know, instead of watching "Friends" and "Seinfeld" reruns on the WB. And here I am. Back. At least for tonight. And a whole year older, I might add. I turned 31 today. Thirty-freaking-one. WOW.

And boy, did today suck. Sure the hubby and I caught a movie for the first time in damn near a year. Oh, we've seen movies on video, but not on the big screen. It was okay, but the whole day just kind of, well, sucked. Maybe it's the sinkful of dirty dishes in my kitchen. Maybe it's the cluttered, messy, toddler-toy ridden house. Maybe it was Sofia's fit at the grocery store today. Maybe it was the fact that I ate some bad barbeque yesterday and yakked it all up last night. Whatever it was was, I hope it's not an indication of the year to come.

New things in my life?
A fast, fast growing toddler. Okay, so that's not new, but she sure does new things everyday. And MAN, she gets cuter by the second. (Note to self: must post pic's)

An Ebay addiction. You really can get anything!

A kitten! A cute cuddly little thing, who is also growing by the second. She is Ginger, and she drives me bats.

Holidays were good. Hope everyone else's were good. Sofia got a ton of stuff. It was amazing with Sofia a whole year older and actually being to open her presents and get excited.

Okay, I guess that's all for now. Baby steps...