Home, Where the Musics Playing. Home....

This weekend was very nice. Friday we played in the yard. "Aunt" Melinda played with the baby in the tent we put up while Big Jesse and I worked in the garden. It was so fun! Melinda was fake yelling at the puppies (saying things like, stop breathing!!) which would make Jesse giggle so hard! Then we went to Bethel Movie Night and munched on some food. After we kidnapped our friend Rachel and watched Yes Man and Australia. Both were really good movies!

Saturday we cleaned the house in anticipation of Grandma Sharon coming to town. We picked her up from the airport and went grocery shopping. We picked up chicken alfredo from Costco. Even Jesse Jay got to try some that we mashed up with the food masher Grandma Rose bought us (and we mixed in fresh carrots and green beans) that he liked. The boy LOVES his fruit though. Nothing beats some pears, applesauce or peaches for our little guy.

Melinda and mom went to a movie while Jesse and I hung out at home. The baby woke up at 330am SCREAMING because he got passed the bumpers and got his leg stuck in between his baby prison bars. Poor guy.

We woke up LATE Sunday because the little guy ended up sleeping in since he had a 330am snack and he was quickly rescued by Grandma Sharon. We went to church, had lunch with some friends, got some bricks for the garden at Lowe's and watched movies the rest of today. It was lazy and great. Melinda picked up a peanut butter chocolate pie that was to DIE for!!

This week I have to go to Fruitland and Twin Falls. Then Friday is a half-day clinic and the family is picking me up from work and we are going to Washington to see the Arendt side of our family. Should be fun!!

Enjoy these photos that are also from this weekend:
Jesse was helping his dad (who was crocheting) and found the yarn to be VERY interesting. He isn't officially crawling yet but he can slowly scoot to where he wants to go.

This is the toy Grandpa Ron brought the baby back from his trip to Japan. He was VERY interested in it. He stared down the toy until it was quiet.

He got to play with noodles for the first time. He wasn't sure what to do with them and surprisingly didn't gum it. It made an excellent toy though!

Anyway, I can't believe how quickly this weekend went by. It's always too short! Little Jesse has a cold and husband Jesse lost his voice yesterday from this cold we all have. So this congestion junk isn't JUST allergies since we all got it and we know BIG Jesse has no seasonal allergies after testing done in Nashville, TN a couple years back. This cold makes for a grumpy baby and all we can do is tylenol, fluids, cuddle, wipe and suck out his nose (the latter parts he HATES).

Poor guy. :(

Dream, Dream, Dream.....

Sunday night, was my own personal hell. Not because I had a fussy baby (I didn't) but because I couldn't sleep. Occasionally I get this sense of anxiety out of nowhere, try and psych myself out of it by taking Benadryl- when said Benadryl will fail me and cause a paradoxical reaction of complete exhaustion and inability to sleep! That's what happened Sunday night. As I pouted in our room for a couple hours, pouted in the guest room tossing & turning a few hours, rinse and repeat.... I got MAYBE 30 minutes of sleep, total.

I get a little crazy when I don't sleep. We learned that after Jesse was born. I sobbed to my husband that I couldn't get up with him anymore. I had failed breast feeding, I was exhausted, and I don't fall asleep easily. By the time I'd fall asleep it was that EXACT moment he'd start screaming and we'd start the whole feeding, snuggling cycle all over again. I was really emotional for the first few months after he was born. That was with sleep. Take away the sleep and postpartum depression... sank in heavily. That whole "Sleep when the baby sleeps" advice didn't apply to me because it takes me two hours to relax, and that's typically what he slept. So I'd always be on edge, unable to fall asleep. Anxiety causes insomnia, and insomnia causes anxiety. Ugly black hole of a cycle, isn't it?!?

This should paint a picture in your mind that sleep and I are co-dependent. We need each other.

Luckily, we had a PA clinic at work and only 6 patients. So after a couple hours at work my boss let me go home, wonderfully and sympathetically. I was able to take a LONG nap when I got home as my sister-in-law was gracious enough to keep Jesse while I napped. My roommate and husband also were quick to let me relax and get some needed rest. I am surrounded by WONDERFUL people.

Jesse (husband) and I have decided I would be much happier if I was able to work part-time. This is our new dream we are working towards. Once Jesse is a teacher I will work full-time for the next year or so, and when we are ready to have another baby, then I will go part-time. I need a weekday at home so I can do laundry, watch the kid(s) and spend time with them, cook, be domestic. There is half of me that LOVES being a working mom and half of me that YEARNS to be more domestic.

And who knows what I will want in 3+ years, but for now it's our dream and something to strive for.

Rock-a-bye-baby...........

We are trying to get baby Jesse to fall asleep on his own. It's really hard. Mostly because I foil my plans by becoming overwhelmed with working mommy guilt on occassion and decide what's best for HIM is for me to hold him until he, or we, both fall asleep. And then, I let Jesse put him to sleep. I am pretty sure we can't be dragging a 3 year old to bed every night and breaking him of his 'cuddle to sleep philosophy' is easier to break NOW, rather than later. So far this week we have been successful with rather mild push back from the infant.

Sarah (my sister-in-law) puts him to sleep for naps by wrapping him up like a mummy and putting a pacifer in his mouth. Normally when I wrap him, he hates it. And he normally won't take a pacifer from me. But lately, he will. Maybe Nanny 911 knows what its talking about with this whole consistency thing?!? I think it's a God thing.

Yesterday, I miraculously got the day off since one of the surgeons was out of town. I took call, but never got called in. Sarah and I hung out all day. We went to lunch at the Robin's Nest and I got a half BLT! Then we went to Flying M. I love their coffee. So yummy! The babies got jealous of our lunch and coffee and demanded to be fed as well.

After feeding them, we loaded up in the car and went to Fire & Ice. We got Emma and Jesse's handprints casted. I am excited to see how they turned out April 29th (the date they should be available for pick up). Then, we went to Other Mothers. I got a cool outfit for baby Ward and got a used Diaper Genie. The garbage pail we were using was disappointing and didn't smell good, ever.

Then we went to Target to get Diaper Genie refills and some cards for upcoming birthdays and Mother's Day. I got some stage 2 baby foods for the little guy (I need some glass baby food jars to make my own and store it anyways). I got all the meat ones because it's easy to mash fruits and veggies into combinations. And I also got Mac & Cheese and he LOVED IT!

I spent the evening with the baby and riding my exercise bike. Pray for my determination and motivation is this area. I need to be dedicated and dilligent about this!

Today was a half day, sort of. I helped out the second half of clinic, which must mean good things because the head PA at least trusts me on my own. I run stuff past her to make sure she agrees, but all in all we seem on the same page (but are we really? Or am I drinking the funny colored Koolaid? I am hoping for the former!)

Tomorrow is kinda weird, we have a Twin Falls clinic on Friday instead of our stereotypical Wednesday or Thursday. Then we come back home and I need to rush so we can go to a friends wedding.

This weekend is low-key. No major plans as of yet.

Take THAT Murphy's Law!!!

Yesterday was a "can all these things really go wrong all at once" day. And remarkably it turned out GREAT! It started with being woken up ay 745am by my husband reminding me he had a substitute position and needed to leave. I had ignored my lousy alarm clock thinking it had gone off when it was supposed to, not 30 minutes LATER. So I forgo the shower and scramble to get ready as my husband so graciously helped get the baby ready. He had to leave after 1o minutes of that and I was on baby drop off duty.

At 810, as I had precisly calculated as my needed departure time I take the baby and my purse out to my car. I look for my keys. I look. and look. and look. No keys. I look inside. No where to be found. Drat! Maybe I left them in the van when we went to my eye doctor appointment.? I call my husband who is about to be at the school and has just pulled in. He confirms it, they are in his car.

Plan B, frantically call my sister-in-law for a rescue. She can't find her copy of our key. Drats, drats, drats! Melinda who also has copy of the key is 15 minutes away and I am already late. I call my friend who I carpool with and beg her to be me knight in shinning armor. She happily agrees! Ha, success! We put Jesse in her car and drop him off at my sister-in-laws house and hed to work. Making it in only 7 minutes late. Besides some giggles at MY air-headedness.. no other major problems from being a tad late (this is one of the many reasons why I love being a PA!!)

We work and minus one grumpy patient, the day goes rather smoothly. I love Friday half-day clinics! Then my friend drops me off at my sister-in-laws house. We go out for Olive Garden (which was yummy but I paid for later in the tummy sickness department) and have fun with the babies and just chatting. Jesse gets put in a high chair and gnaws on a bread stick. He loved doing this but didnt eat ANY of it. As Sarah put it, "Oh well, one less person to have to share breadsticks with. Jesse (the baby) proceeds to flirt with a little girl at the table next to us. Such a ladies man!

Then we went to Wal-Mart and bought fabric. I bought lots. Some to make bags. And some to make a sling. An awesome boyish FIRE sling. Afterwards we go back to Sarah's house, wash the fabric and make slings, as my husband made taco soup. Yum!!

I had a lot of fun last night making slings and hanging out. Hope you enjoy the photos! It was nice to have an excellent day that started out so obnoxious (again, my airheaded fault but still).

Birthday Weekend Extravaganza.. I'm 26!!!

The days of running around the house and bragging about being the only 25 year old left, are over. We celebrated my 26th birthday in a lot of fun ways! It all started Friday..

At work I got a card and a bunch of lottery scratch tickets and won 3 dollars. They spent more getting them than I made, but it was fun. The only way I gamble as I will not pay for an actual lottery ticket. (By the way this pretty much makes my prayer to "win the lotto" useless since I don't gamble). I am taking this as a sign from God that he wants me working full-time.

Once I got home we awaited our friend Jed's arrival. Once he got to our house we went to Red Robin and met our friends Jake, Amy, and Geoff there. The Red Robin people in true fashion sang happy birthday very loudly to me. The baby was in my arms and just stared at them. He got so many compliments for just watching them and not crying at all. Literally EVERY person in the group came up and said, "Wow, he didn't even cry? They ALWAYS cry!" No he doesn't have problems hearing.. he is just THAT mellow.

Then we went to Target and bought Bedtime Stories which is really funny! I was glad we got it. I have watched it three times since. And then we watched another movie and hit the sack.

Saturday morning I woke up to my wonderful husband singing happy birthday to me and promptly tending to the baby so I could try and sleep in. I got up however and resumed changing and snuggling the baby. It was nice. I could choose whatever I wanted and I chose to snuggle!

Then we hung out and waited for people to wake up. At 10 am I loaded the baby and I into my car and Jesse, Jed and Melinda went to the Sun Rise Cafe for breakfast. I went over to the Casos' for breakfast and a game. It was so much fun! They made homemade doughnuts, eggs, sausage, and juice. Then we played Ticket to Ride, which I am now in love with. I seriously need to buy that game and take it with me to game night.

Then the baby and I got back into the car and headed home after a brief detour to Starbucks for iced passion fruit tea (YUMMY!!) I was soooo happy when I got there. My husband, Melinda and Jed cleaned my house and were getting a BBQ ready. They also invited a bunch of my friends to the house. It was nice because about 25 people showed up! I felt so loved!

We played games late into the night, approximately 1 am. Then the four of us: Jed, Jesse, Melinda and me talked and talked until 5 am!

When the baby woke up at 9 am it was apparent he was sick as his nose was like a faucet! It was clear, but no fever. His daddy rushed him into our bathroom (as he was making spit up sounds) and suctioned his nose like a champ! He proceeded to use the little noses nasal spray (that he hates) but overall it seems somewhat improved. Baby Jesse can be such a little weirdo! He was a happy sick kid. Sleepy and snuggly, but happy. Very blessed are we!

We snuggled (and wiped his nose all the while) and watched Pinnochio I got as a gift from hubby on my laptop! We all fell asleep. We woke up somewhere around noon. We had bruch and sadly said goodbye to Jed. :(

Then we cleaned up the house some, watched some of my new movies (Emporer's New Groove, Project Runway Season 4!) had dinner. I did 50 minutes on the exercise bike and went to bed early. I didn't wake up once between 950pm and 620am! I wanted to sleep-in so badly!!!! But once I got going it wasn't so bad. Thank goodness for this beautiful weather. It is so much easier to get up in the morning when it isnt cold, dark, and dreary outside!

Today at work was busy, but we were effective. We were getting patients back in a timely manner and I just seemed on my 'diagnostic game.' Every complicated patient that came in I was able to just zone in on the actual issue instead of being confused by all the details or getting lost in sorting out what was important and what was not.

I made one patient insanely happy because I listened to him and did an X-ray no one had done before. He got no answers but left with a smile on his face because "he'd been heard." I love days like today where you feel like being at work made a difference in someone's life.

Tonight I made a hodge-podge dinner out of leftovers, met a friend at the park behind our house, loved on the baby, rode my exercise bike for 30 minutes, and now I am ready for bed! Having no time has some benefits, the weekday goes by so much faster than it used to.

I am excited for the babies first Easter. They won't remember it, but we will. Jesse has such a cute Easter outfit. I'll post pictures next week.

Speaking of pictures, Heidi finished the 6 month, family, cousins pictures we had taken over Spring Break. I have seen a sneak peak from her collection and I am excited to see the rest. Check out facebook soon to see more!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. This was one of my best birthdays yet!

Quality vs Quantity... and No Drama Mama!!

I have been thinking a lot lately on quality vs. quantity. To my family it's more important that we enjoy our lives. We work hard and we play hard. Not always mind you, but enough to keep us content and happy. Given the economy we can't make any significant changes at this time, but maybe in 5 years or so we will be better off financially and I will be able to go part-time. That's my dream life anyways. I try and not focus on it a lot, but keep it in my mind as a goal as we manage finances, pay loans, etc.

I am starting to feel like I fit in at work a little more. My dictaphone and lab coats (white coat) came in this week so I feel more confident and comfortable. We went to a lunch meeting today and one of the doctors asked about PA's and if I knew anyone needing work and my physician stepped in and jokingly (semi-serious) said, "don't be making any offers to MY PA's." I must be doing ok enough for him to want to keep me.. all good signs.

There has been a lot of drama lately though. I don't love drama. People just seem so grumpy lately. Seriously, is it in the water? Is there something about Spring Break that makes everyone disgruntled or is it the lack of sun and vitamin D? Personally I am disappointed the sun has been hiding and the weather, bipolar.

Baby Jesse is wonderful and kinda all over the place. He is waking up earlier and earlier. Though I really shouldn't complain because he still sleeps about 7-8 hours uninterrupted. He WAS sleeping 11-12 hours. Maybe teething but I dunno. I am a first time mommy so who knows. And I can't feel a tooth protruding other than the single one on top that won't budge.

And he is jumping in his jumper like a lunatic and it's so much fun to watch. We both laugh hysterically. Actually all three of us do. And he likes it when I say "jump, jump!" and responds by jumping madly.

He is also in love with technology. If you know my husband, this is probably obvious to you. But he loves cell phones, TV, remotes, and especially my laptop. We can snuggle into bed at night and watch one of the shows and we fall asleep. And Big Jesse put the muppets on for him (he is so excited about introducing him to Jim Henson's creations) and it calmed him down!! Such a mini-Maddux! And appropriately named Jesse!

Anyway, I need to go to bed. We have to go to Twin Falls ridiculously early tomorrow and we have a busy and full clinic. Thank goodness Stephanie (PA) is going with me! I adore that lady!!

6 Month Appointment and Zoo Boise

Today was baby Jesse's 6 month appointment. This appointment was much more pleasant as he only had to get 2 shots and an oral rotavirus vaccine. Our pediatrician was nice and let us bring Grandma Rose and Great Grandma Barnett to the appointment. They got to ask lots of questions.

Jesse smiled a lot at Dr. Rand and he checked his ears and says they look fine but did write a script for ear numbing drops- just in case. He also says we can start giving him a little free water and juice now (but no orange juice).

In terms of measurements he now is 18 lbs 11oz and 27 and 1/4in long. And he has a big head. I don't remember the specifics, but it's a good size noggin. He did really well with his shots and only cried for maybe 15 seconds and immediately went back to playing (and attacking my face- he loves to do that when he is hyper!)

So he is still doing well and no health concerns to report. We are blessed with a healthy and happy kid.

We also went to Zoo Boise with the family today. The baby pretty much slept through it, but Emma was a trooper and looked at EVERYTHING! Jesse woke up near the end and did see the Meercats and a couple monkeys. I took him to the gift shop hoping to get him a stuffed animal or something, and he was very disinterested. My son, such a saver of $$!