First day at work

Well, it was my first day at work. I am now a reading aid at Diamond Ridge Elementary. I work from 11:30 to 3:00. Isaac is in preschool from 12:45 to 3:45 so we miss syncing our schedules by about an hour. One of my good friends has her son going to preschool at the same time so she has Isaac for that hour, and then I am able to pick him up after he is done. I have a lot to learn and I hope I get it down quick.

I am still doing medical transcription in the evening when it is there. Just wanted to update you on what was happening here.
Connie

She's asleep...

I know - it doesn't really seem like it given the vice-like grip on both crib and bag. She fell asleep this way for her nap today.

Thanksgiving Break

What a Thanksgiving break. The plan was to go to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year. Nathan had a fever on Sunday and Monday, but nothing after that. I called my brothers and sisters who were going and they said it was okay. So we drove up Wednesday after Isaac got out of preschool. About 10 minutes from my mom and dads house, Isaac said "mom, I have a headache". That was the first clue that Nathan was getting a fever earlier that week. We got to my mom and dads house and took his temperature. He had a fever of 100.4. Well, we had a quick dinner of Spagettios that night, and got back in the car and drove home. The next day, Isaac had a fever of 103, so we made the right call in going home. We have had a very relaxing vacation, (once we got past the fevers and driving for six hours in one day), as the pictures attest to. Jarom is laying in the sun with Caleb (the dog), Jacob is on the couch, Erin and Nathan made a fort and slept in it Thanksgiving night. It has been fun.

National Debt Clock : Real Time

This is pretty interesting and just fun to watch.
U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Texting

How many of you text? Do you have a texting plan or just a pay as you go? I have unlimited texting and find its useful for certain types of communication. I know sometimes providers make you pay for each message and so I don't want to cause extra costs for anyone who would prefer another type of communication.

For Dad

Here are some pictures and videos we've taken recently.

Sonogram

Here's the first sonogram of our new baby.

GAO Internship

I got a call on Monday from Dallas. The GAO called to schedule and interview with me for the internship I applied for. I'm nervous about it but at least I have a week and a half to calm myself.

The nice thing about competitive internships like this one is that you are almost guaranteed a job after its completion. If not with the GAO then with another institution, impressed by the gold star on your resume.

The internship is located in downtown Dallas and would happen sometime this summer. Its a paid internship and I'm hoping that I would be able to stay with one of you during the 2 months of the internship. I don't want to get hopes up too high but I'm excited. I'll keep you posted while I go through the evaluation process. Wish me luck.

View Larger Map

pretty paintings

God painted me some pretty pictures this morning. I have never seen cloud formations like this before. These were taken within a three minute time frame. I almost missed it. I'm glad I didn't.

Great book for sleeping

Ok, so Stephen and I like to go to Barnes and Noble and look at books when we get a chance. I happened upon a book called "The Sleepeasy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. We've been having a hard time at nights because Dante was still not sleeping through the night. There were some nights when I was so tired that Stephen or my mom would get up for one of the night time sessions with Dante. I was desperate for a change. Everyone (including the pediatrician) said that Dante should be sleeping through the night since he was old enough and big enough to not need night time feedings anymore.

I started reading the book and I really liked the way it sounded. Namely that the book claimed it could get your child sleeping through the night in less than a week! It sounded too good to be true. The first night we tried the steps given by the book it took an hour to get Dante to sleep and I think he woke up 3 times that night. The next night it took about 20 min. to get him to sleep and he woke up once. The third night Dante went to bed without any crying and woke up once. Since then, he goes to bed without any crying and he's been sleeping straight through the night! (Wake-up time is about 6 am., but that's ok with a full night's sleep.)

The book also gave instructions on getting good sleep at nap time, so we are working on that now. There is information for crib sleepers, for weening night time feedings (when the child is just eating out of habit), for non-verbal bed sleepers, for verbal bed sleepers, for children who will only sleep with parents, etc.

It is a great book. I love it! Now I just need to get a copy of it! I recommend it for anyone who has been struggling with sleep time or if anyone knows friends who could use the book. Before this book, I had been given information by the pediatrician, but it was a fragmented and incomplete version of the book's information. I had also read a few things, but nothing compared to the information and support that this book gave. Did I mention that I love this book?

Question for Adam and Laura

Just a quick question. Does Lilia still use a "bath chair" at bath time? Dante has a little mesh recliner for bath time, but about a week ago he decided he didn't want to use it anymore. He rolls off of it, so we stopped using it. I was just wondering if Lilia is also at that point. I think the change might just be because of the introduction of bath toys, though.

Google Image Swirl

Here is a new website from Google. If you have time to kill you should try it out.

Happy Birthday Yesterday Jennifer.

I didn't get to the phone yesterday and wanted to wish you a happy birthday.

Hope it was happy.

Connie

Standing Dante?

It's been a week since Dante started crawling. Today he has shown that he can pull himself into a standing position if something is handy for him to use. He used his high chair to pull up on and he also used his bumper pads to stand in his crib. Craziness!

What the crap is the plan for Christmas?

Now that I have stated this gently, can we come together and make a consensus decision, if the economy is down and were all poor then let's just write letters or something and call it good, if we want to set a price limit of 5 bucks a family that is fine as well, I know that were all struggling with all the hope and change weve been through lately and we may only have change left. I know on Connie's side we have names assigned by year and we rotate through the other nine siblings, that might be an option, but we need to make a decision. Love you all. sean