Friday, June 27, 2008

Back to Square One

So, I finally got an e-mail from the other job prospect today. It was very very nice, and they said that they really liked me, but in the end had to go with someone with more applicable experience. I guess that's the deal with the publishing industry. Lots of applicants and a rather small pool of jobs... I think maybe I'm just looking in the wrong areas. I can't really apply for more freelance work at the moment either because my one client takes up all of my extra time. Sigh.

Roxanne, I hope you read this when you are 16 and realize that I am not a horrible pitiful whiny person, I just love you very very much and wish I could spend more time with you. And I want you to learn that moms can have jobs and families and be happy with both. I will soldier on and fix all of this. And eventually, when I'm a published author, we'll all laugh about my paralegal days. Right?

Thursday, June 26, 2008

One no and One unknown


Just as an update, the contract position I was hoping for is a no for now. It's one of those things that could maybe be an option down the line, but since the person is not sure how much work she can guarantee me, she doesn't feel comfortable taking me on as an employee yet.


Still waiting on the other position. They checked my references on Tuesday afternoon, so of course I've already decided that they must have offered the job to someone else yesterday, but we'll see. Sigh.


In other news, Roxanne has started saying "dada" and it is very cute. It sounds more like "dzadza" if you can imagine that, but either way, it's very cute. She also officially likes bananas. She ate almost an eighth of a mushed up banana last night, which is a lot for her. Andrea has been trying to give her oatmeal during the day, but apparently she's not having it. And yesterday Andrea said she was "grumpy." She is teaching Roxanne to wave. It's very cute, although it's hard to tell whether or not she has any idea she's doing it when she waves.
The picture is Roxanne wearing her bonnet that Grandma got her at Agrirama. They are made by an employee.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Delaying delaying delaying

We had a lovely weekend this weekend. We went to Tifton for the Tucker family reunion. We really enjoyed the break, and spending lots of time with my grandparents and staying in a hotel. We went to the Agrirama on Saturday (see Flickr photos) which is basically an agriculture museum. It was really neat, and it's based around a working farm. There were some interesting characters working there. The reunion dinner on Saturday night was really nice, and we met a lot of people. Roxanne really hammed it up, and she was very charming. She let several people hold her and didn't fuss or anything. She pulled some hair, but oh well. It's part of her charm...?

So it somehow feels like we sort of had a mini-vacation since we stayed in a hotel. Roxanne slept in a big bed with me, and I have to admit that she woke up extra early on Saturday and I put Sesame Street on to try and get a little cat nap for myself. Justin was dead to the world. I didn't get too many extra z's, but I did discover that Roxanne really likes Elmo. I don't know many kids who don't like Elmo, but she definitely did. She just stared at him, but then went back to playing with her toys on the bed after he went off. She's getting pretty good at sitting by herself and playing with a few toys. She still whines to be picked up eventually, but I usually don't mind.

Admission: I am selling some of my extra frozen milk to a couple who are adopting a baby. I know that sounds weird, and maybe even kind of bad, but I just think it's amazing that they are so dedicated to giving their baby breast milk, and it's a nice little extra for us. It at least helps with filling the gas tank. White gold. But don't worry, I'm not depriving Roxanne. Their baby hasn't been born yet, so I'm trying to work at building up a good cache for them since they bought the first batch on Sunday. The baby is due any day now though, so we'll see. I might only have enough to provide half of the meals. I hope you aren't judging me, I just saw an opportunity to help keep a baby healthy, and make a little extra money, and it seemed perfect. They were telling me and Justin that they looked into buying milk from one of the six "milk banks" in the United States, but it is apparently very expensive. The milk goes through several tests, it's homogenized and pasteurized, too and then they ship it to you frozen. Very high tech.

Alright, I'm so sleepy I can't stand any more. We hope you are all doing well.

Oh, and I should know about my job prospects in the next few days. For one, they called my references and told me I'm in the top 3 candidates today, and for the other (less formal - contract work) we are having a call tomorrow afternoon to discuss things. So keep your fingers crossed. I'm trying to convince myself that it is very possible that neither will pan out, but I know that I will be disappointed if they don't. I hate waiting...

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Six Month Doctor Visit

So this morning Roxanne had her check up. She was very well behaved, although she was very sleepy. She woke up at 3:30 this morning and acted like I was being silly for trying to go back to sleep. She clearly wanted to just go ahead and start her day... Anyways, she is now 27 3/4 inches tall and 17 pounds 3 ounces. According to the doctor, that puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th for height. She said breastfed babies usually have their weight level out around now. She said her torso is very long. I don't know who she gets that from...not me.

Also, as one of my usualy mature side notes, I have to share that Roxanne seems to be developing some serious room-clearing gas. I mean, she toots like an adult these days. She also loves putting her face on my arm and making rasberry sounds, which prompts Justin to comment that Roxanne is just obssessed with toots. But today at the doctor's she totally put me in the most awkward position, since she "cut the cheese" in a very serious way about five second before the doctor came in. Neither me nor the doctor mentioned the smell, but I was very tempted to go ahead and let her know that it was Roxanne. But I didn't. I'm trying to be mature.

She had to have four shots and an oral vaccine. She screamed after the second shot but quieted down right after the last one when I picked her up. I gave her some Tylenol, nursed her, and she was good as new. Oh, and the doctor said she could see her top teeth are almost ready to come out. Which is great. Now she'll have four teeth to bite me with. She also said her ear infection is almost cleared up. Yay!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Waiting Games

Right now is one of those weird places for me, and consequently my family. I'm waiting to hear back from two job prospects, but still trying to prepare myself for sticking around at my job indefinitely. I'm also trying to explore options for Roxanne's daycare for once she ages out at Andrea's. I talked to one of the other baby's moms this week, and we are going to consider a nanny share. She lives in East Atlanta, and her daughter is only a couple of weeks younger than Roxanne. Her name is Grace, and she's very cute. Her and Roxanne were holding hands the other day. They both love to play in the jumparoo, too. It seems like it might be a good arrangement, but we'll have to see how much it would cost. We can't afford a large jump in price, especially if I end up taking a pay cut, which is a possibility. But we'll see. Hopefully things will start wrapping up in the next few weeks and we will all be a little more settled. Justin has been very sweet and supportive helping me explore my options, and we both want to make things more comfortable all around.

In other news, Roxanne is six months old tomorrow. Justin and I can't believe how big she's getting. She is like a little lady. Although sometimes she is more like a teenager... She has developed a slight biting habit, both when she's nursing and just in general. She tricks Justin by acting like she just wants to gently gum his finger, and then SNAP, she chomps down on him. Those little teeth are pretty serious. Everything I read says to pull Roxanne away when she bites me while nursing, and tell her "NO," in a firm voice. I have tried it, and Roxanne just smiles at me like I've just told a really funny joke. Sigh. She's made the switch to sippy cups, and she's in her third week of using them at daycare instead of her bottles. I think it's more comfortable for her to eat out of it, since she can chew as she eats. She's not really interested in food right now. We keep trying to get her to eat cereal, but she's just not into it. Tonight I tried mixing some mushed up pear with the rice cereal and breast milk, and her faces were priceless. But she still didn't eat a lot of it. Her six month check up is tomorrow, so I plan on asking the pediatrician for some tips. I finally got my paycheck from Atlanta Parent, and meager as it is, I'm going to use it to order a mini-food processor from Amazon.com so I can start making some other options for Roxanne. I have a kit with a DVD and cookbook, and I can't wait to start.

Roxanne is able to sit up by herself now, but she still topples over after a few minutes. She does really well in the highchair though. She loves it. She sits in it while Justin and I eat dinner, and she plays with her toys or just sits and bangs on the tray of the highchair. She throws her toys off of the tray over and over, and then looks right at Justin with her hands together under her chin, like "Daddy, could you be a dear and pick that up?" And of course he obliges. She is aging out of her bouncy seat prematurely because she sits upright in it. She does pull ups holding the toys hanging over the top. And she grunts while she does it.

I'm very rambly tonight. I think it's because I'm feeling contented. I have been watching reruns of Murder She Wrote on Netflix. I love that show. It's like reading a Nancy Drew book or something, comfortably formulaic.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Roxanne's First Ear Infection




Well, bad news. I took Roxanne to the pediatrician this morning because she really wasn't doing any better. Turns out she has a minor ear infection in one ear, and her chest congestion is a little worse. Her 6 month check up (and birthday) is on Thursday, so the doctor said she could come back then and she will make sure that Roxanne's chest congestion is a little better. In the mean time, we have antibiotics for her. Two times a day, for ten days. The first dose this morning was pretty good I guess. But it's a lot of medicine for such a little monkey. I'm not feeling great either, and I'm still trying to decide if I should go to the doctor, too. It's such a pain, but I'm worried that Roxanne and I are just passing something back and forth. This is the start of the third week of both of us being sick.

In other news, we had a nice weekend. Justin's work had a picnic on Saturday, and that was really fun. It was at Indian Creek Park near Avondale Estates. It was very shady, so it wasn't too hot. Later we went to the James Joyce Pub in Avondale, which was pretty delicious. Roxanne was laid back and just went with the flow all day. We drove around Avondale Estates and decided that we really like it over there, and in a few years when we are thinking about buying a house, we may look in that area. It's really gorgeous.

Father's Day was nice. But we were all exhausted from Roxanne not sleeping much on Saturday night, so we were a little cranky. But we went to La Fonda for brunch, and then went up to my dad and Colleen's farm later for dinner. We have lots of photos that I will post later. I just posted a huge batch of photos from when me and Justin were little. Dad had them on a CD from when he did a slide show for our wedding, so I uploaded them. It seems to me that Roxanne looks more like her Daddy when he was a baby. Especially her eyes. What do you guys think? The first photo is me and the second is Roxanne. The third is Justin.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

OK seriously


That was what Roxanne wanted to say. We've been having sort of a tough week. She was out sick on Monday, so we spent the day trying to snuggle and rest, but she was really fussy. Tuesday I had to pick her up at lunchtime because Andrea called and said she was not feeling well and wouldn't eat or sleep. So we spent the afternoon together, napping and snuggling. She was much better. I did take her to the pediatrician on Monday, and she just said that Roxanne has a cold. Which is definitely a relief. She'd been running a low-grade fever all weekend. Yesterday, Andrea tells me she chatted with the other girls at school and tried as well as she could to jump up and down in her exersaucer. She LOVES the exersaucer. We have one at home, too, and every time you put her in it, she's hysterical. She just immediately tries to play with all of the toys at once and looks very busy. And she talks to it a lot.

Speaking of talking, Roxanne is getting very very verbal. She has been saying "mamamamamama amamamama" for a couple of weeks now, and it's just adorable. I know it doesn't mean anything yet, but it's cute. She also says "bababa" and just moves her mouth a lot. I got some video of her saying "mamamama" the other day, so I will post it to Flickr this weekend. I'm not sure if anyone is enjoying the video on Flickr, but I really like them. They are like little movie snapshots! I watch them while I'm at work. If you can tell from the photos, Roxanne is really into EVERYTHING. She's a very busy baby. My favorite thing is how she strains out of her bouncy seat to see if she can grab some stuff around her. That's what the photo is.

OK, I have to get ready for work. Ew.

Roxanne's First Blog Post

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Tuesday, June 3, 2008

I should not be doing this...

I'm totally avoiding work right now and writing a post. Oh well!

Just a quick run-down:

Roxanne has her bottom teeth now, although they are still just poking out a little bit. I wish they would come all the way through, because they seem to be making her really angry.

She's had a runny nose since the middle of last week, but I figured it was teething related, but now I've got it, too. Except I have a cough and sneezies. Justin will probably get it in a few days. Families share!

On Friday, we gave Roxanne some rice cereal. She seemed to like it, but it was hard to tell if she wanted the food or the spoon to rub on her gums. Either way, it was pretty cute. We stopped after giving her about a tablespoon because she started making these silly gagging sounds. We haven't tried again since then, but we will. It was just a very busy weekend, and I'm not quite at the top of my game with this cold. I also had mastitis last week, but it isn't too terrible anymore and I'm taking an antibiotic for it. I had to miss work on Thursday, and I thought I had the flu because I had a fever and chills and body aches. All that was mastitis. I don't know why, but that just seems crazy to me.

Roxanne also had her first encounter with a pool on Sunday. We were at my grandparents' house in Winder, and there is a pool in their subdivision. I only dipped her toes in, and she screamed like I was putting her toes into boiling water. The rest of the time she pretty much sat with my sister on the edge of the pool while I got to swim. It was really nice. I love swimming.

So maybe we'll try Ms. Roxanne on cereal tonight.

P.S. I've had several people ask me lately if we are going to call Roxanne "Roxy," and we aren't planning on it. I guess we're not really nick-name kind of people. We just call her other sorts of names, like "booty," (don't ask, I have no idea how that happened, but it fits) "monkey," "wild child," "monkey tail," "MC Pee Pants," "MC Poo Pants," and the list goes on. If she gets older and decides she wants to call herself Roxy, that's fine by us. But it somehow seems more of a teenager name. Justin likes "Rocky," but I'm not sure. It would be kind of funny for a woman named Adriane to call her daughter Rocky. For now, Roxanne seems perfect.