life goes on

Well, they say bad stuff happens in 3's and the third has happened so hopefully this is it! The mother of a very good friend of ours (she was also one of our favorite people) died unexpectedly Monday and the family night was last night. They're doing a small family-only service sometime this weekend I think. She was only 54. These last 2 weeks the chorus of a fairly new Christian pop song from the group Superchick keeps running through my head

we live
we love
we forgive and never give up
cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
and today we remember to live and to love

here's the link to the rest of the song if anyone is interested
http://www.christianrocklyrics.com/superchick/welive.php

What a reminder to savor every day. I find myself playing more, reading more, hugging more. Life is so precious and I am so blessed....

On a more personal note, I am changing job courses slightly for the next couple months to do some testing and training on the new nursing computer system. It will be 3 days a week (office hours) and then I'll continue to do my every other weekend evening shift (which will bring me to 4 days a week). I'm excited about the oportunity. I was asked on Tuesday and start at the end of next week! Talk about sudden. The poor assistant director who is having to fill my schedule... 3-11 is not a popular shift to work!

Learning and Growing

What a week! I know it's been a sad week for all of us with the Virginia Tech shootings and add to that, the finace of the guy that Heather (my good friend) nannied for died unexpectedly this past week of MRSA sepsis. MRSA is a crazy scary bug and seems to be really spreading around this area. Then work has been crazy and I've been working til 3 am a couple nights. Anyways. Robert is trying to learn everything in a week! He figured out how to crawl onto the coffee table, tonight he figured out how to climb ONTO the couch (using the music table!), and at the vet's office OPENED the door (long handle instead of a door nob!) his walking is really good and his talking and signing are taking off like crazy. Today he said for the first time "duck" and "night-night" (and said them at appropriate times). His other new words are shoes (yes, Heather is proud!), mama-mama-mama-mama! and I'm hearing more "dog". He learned the sign for "more" in about a minute a couple days ago with his first taste of honey nut (generic) cheerios and today used it to ask for more books while we were reading! He's also signing eat/milk/all done and tries to snap his fingers for Snoopy!

It's amazing but SO tiring at the same time! He cries in frustration a thousand times a day, did not want to take a nap (and I worked from 11p-3a so I really wanted a nap :) wants to do it all himself but then gets frustrated/falls/bangs his head. Sigh. Well, here's a couple videos for ya'll!
http://www.megley.com/videos/

Growing Up!

Robert was so cute today. After his nap I took him outside with me to check the mail. He was ticked when I brought him back inside. After a few minutes he brought me a sandle. Then both of them. Then his sneakers. So I took him outside and he did the stairs for a few minutes and then walked all over the yard and then hightailed it for Roger and Peggy's house (but there was no one there). I carried him back to our house where he promptly took off for their house again. I let him mess around their stoop for a while and then took him back to our house and he went back to theirs. The last time I carried him in and he was NOT happy. Poor guy! A snack took care of everything though. It was just too funny. I can't get over how well he walks-in the grass and wind and everything!

He got him MMR today, I had it seperated from the rest of his shots, he seems a little fussy today but OK.
Well, that's all the news here!

fun days

I took Robert to Erica's yesterday for the first time since he's been sick and it was somewhat nice to get out of the house without him :) I got him settled playing in her great back yard with the slides and swings and trucks and all things fun (hey, I wanted to stay and play and have snack!) However as I was pulling out of her driveway I was suddenly struck with terror that someone might run over him someday. I have no idea where it came from (OK, it partly came from a horror story of the same that I read in a parenting magazine last month!) but the thoughts came from nowhere. If anything every happened to my little boy I would be crushed. I would survive and be sane, I hope but I would never be the same again. I prayed all the way to work and was fine once I got there, but it was just strange. Motherhood is a powerful thing. As I was thinking of what it would be like if something every happened to him I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would be better to have him and to loose him than to have never had him. OK, off the morbid subjects. He's fine, and will be fine!

So, after I droped him off I went actually to the recognition luncheon at RMH for people receiving their 5-10-15-20-25-30-35 etc year pins/awards etc. The longer you work the better the stuff gets. I got a lapel pin and a framed certificate. It was a nice lunch etc but what touched me and made me so glad to work in a small community hospital such as RMH was the remarks made by several board members who were there. One talked about organizational assets and liabilities and how employees are usually liabilities (since you have to pay them) but how at RMH they see employees as great assets to the hospital and the community we serve. It was really cool and then the chairwoman said grace in a way that made me know that she really knew God and served Him and it made me happy to work in a place where grace is still said and God is still acknowledged in things like this. Every now and then I wonder what it would be like to work in a hospital where I would just take care of kids-no adult overflow etc and I think it would be cool but then I realize all that we have by working in a small comunity hospital-and that's even cooler. These first 5 years have been cool and I think that the next 5 years will be even cooler. I look forward to doing more and being more here. Tomorrow is the clinical ladder reception and that will be neat too. I'm one of 4 people on peds who have become Clin 1's and I'm excited and now trying to figure out what it will take to be a Clin 2!

Tomorrow also, Snoopy and I both get our teeth worked on. Snoopy went a couple weeks ago for her annual checkup and the vet found a tooth that had died so she's going in for a cleaning and tooth removal under general anesthesia. I went a couple months ago to the dentist and found out I had a couple cavities and they origionally scheduled me for July 31st! but they've been hurting so I called and they had a cancellation on Thursday so I'm going then. They're also going to re-seal my molars. I can't believe that the vet can schedule major surgery on my dog faster than my dentist can schedule minor surgery on me! So Erica is watching Robert and Roger will pick up Snoopy and I'm not sure if anyone is coming to Bible Study but if they are it will be spagetti!

Well, long post and no new stories about Robert. He had his 3rd haircut today and is napping now. I need to get him up and through the bath before I take him to Erica's and we need to leave at 12... so I guess I'd better get to it!

feeling better

Robert seems to be some better today, less feverish and eating/drinking better. He woke up at 4 am again but went back to sleep pretty quickly. Still lots of snot though... yuck!

crazy and sick!

I was originally going to blog on how crazy Robert was last night. We had been playing on the floor while Wesley was playing with his new toy (the slide scanner with the auto slide feeder-cool stuff!), then I was sitting on the sofa and pulled Robert up there to play. He figured out how to climb onto the arm and hold onto the wood and slide feet first into the office area (bypassing the gate). He thinks he's cool stuff! We had a good time together. He had taken an morning nap yesterday which I thought was a little unusual, but he was wide open all day. Last evening I thought he felt warm but he was acting normal so I didn't think much about it. Well, he cried on and off through the night (he does sometimes when he's teething) and at 4:30 was really restless and HOT. Sure enough he had a fever so I gave him motrin, changed his PJ's for a cooler pair and rocked him to sleep. About 30 min later he was awake and so I brought him to bed with me since he seemed to want to cuddle-very unusual for him. He was up for a couple hours today and ate some. His temp was 102 and he went back to sleep after being up for about an hour or so. Poor guy. He's been extra cuddly though and we watched the girl in the cafe-wow. I've been trying to watch it for weeks now-but haven't had much luck with the DVD player, but today it cooperated and I'm blown away. Great reccomendation Aunt Martelle! Well, that's about all here, I'm going to try to get Feb and March pics up on the website now!

Going away!

I can't beleive it, we're leaving Robert for almost 48 hours :( Surely there is a law against this? In one way I'm super excited about sleeping in, hanging out, not lugging a baby in and out of a carseat, eating a whole meal without cutting up someone elses, in another way I know I'll miss him like crazy. And I can't believe all the stuff I "have" to send with him. Good night, it's like moving! Clif and Hollie are keeping him for us. Sounds like they're excited too. Robert is defintely a little boy now. He walks great and is getting really fast (yikes, is running around the corner?), he can eat as much as me (a whole grilled cheese!), and he's so darn cute. His latest antics are:
1) If you're in the bathroom with the door shut he'll get down on the floor and lay his head down and peep at you
2) If you have something he wants he goes "mmm, mmm, mmm like Snoopy does, sounds like puppy whining. Cas in point, I was rocking him to sleep and Wesley walked in the living room with a peices of his (Wesley's) b-day cake. Robert took one look at the cake, slid off my lap (he's learned to flip himself and go down feet first!) bee lined to Wesley and started doing the puppy noises and reaching for the plate.
3) He can climb stairs (crawling that is_
4) learning to climb stuff. Today I cought him actually trying to climb into the refrigerator! This is after he spent a few minutes turning the light on and off in the fridge!
5) Pulling stuff off: in the backpack, from the floor it doesn't matter. He can reach further than he should be able to considering his height and length of his arms. Must be octopus arms. He can get stuff off the table that is suitably in and stuff off shelves at the grocery store if he's in the backpack. Today he's been clingly and wanting to be held and I've been trying to pack etc so I put him in the backpack. He grabbed the little stuffed monkey I was going to pack for him and held onto it for about an hour while he was in the backpack. It was cute.

Well, he's awake now so I'd beter get! We'll be back Sunday! And I PROMISE I'll do pictures for Feb and add some for the blog and everything. Oh and the new babysitter is working out great.

new babysitter

I found one! Oh, glory. I tried to blog a couple days ago but the blog server was down and I've been too stressed to get back to it. But I interviewed a wonderful lady this afternoon and gave her the job. I feel so much better. Robert will be well cared for there. Robert is walking more and more and is just too darn cute for words!

Argh!

Just in the middle of everything with Robert's b-day I go to pick him up from the babysitters to find that she's pregnant and won't be babysitting anymore. So I guess I'll be starting the babysitter search all over again. That aside, Robert had a great birthday and we're really excited about his first birthday party! I guess I'll worry about a new baby sitter next week. I have a call in to Childcare connection (how I found the first baby sitter) so once she calls back I'll have to wait for a new folder of people anyways.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to!

lol, just when I was mourning my tiny baby, Robert decided to keep me up part of the night last night. I realized this morning that his 2 top teeth are about to erupt, I guess he was hurting! I went in to check on him abour 1 am on my way to bed (worked last night) and he was awake and then he started to cry. I left him alone for a while but after 10 min or so brought him back to our bed until he was asleep and then put him back down-screaming. Then back to our bed for a while and then back to his crib where he cried a few minutes before going back to sleep! Then I woke up a couple hours later and stuck some blankets on him-he was all curled up and looked really cold!

And I used to do this up in the middle of the night thing all the time? I am so out of practice!

A dose of motrin seems to have made everything all better. I guess it's time for breakfast and then storytime and lunch with daddy and a NAP (for both of us!)

crazy goomer!

Robert is changing so fast I hardly know what to tell here! He's walking more and more, and learned "SO BIG" yesterday (still won't always perform on demand with company though!). He's becoming much more interactive and more interested in how things work. He spent a good while today figuring out how to get a ball in and out of his ball pounder-from the bottom. He's loving books again (went through a phase where he didn't want to sit still long enough!) and wiggles and giggles when he sees his favorite "touch and see" puppy book. We're also working on the word "no" and seem to be getting somewhere with that. Oh, and he's starting to do some preliminary climbing (thanks to his friend in nursery I'm sure!). His bottom 2 teeth aren't fully in but are clearly visable and so cute! I love seeing him with teeth and he loves to brush them! He's chewing and drooling again so I wonder if the top ones will be in soon. He is really a joy. In the past I was such an infant person that I wondered if I would enjoy him as much when he turned 1 but I love him even more and love to watch him become a person and learn and grow. Oh, the other thing I was going to blog is that we took him sledding twice this week and he really liked it! Wes took him Wednesday before he went to work and I took him yesterday afternoon.

we're walking, we're walking

Oh my gosh, he's walking. I was cooking this evening and he was playing in his plastic wear drawer and I looked up to see him walking across the kitchen. He's now walking 4-5 steps at a time, to people etc. I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Robert's life

Robert's life
I was thinking this morning as I shoveled pureed pears into Robert (buy the no sugar added pears, drain and puree in the mini chopper) how so much of this year has been about "mostly". I went into motherhood figuring that would be the way it would go but with more idealistic thoughts that I would make all my baby food, use only cloth diapers, make stuff from scratch etc. Well, I have used mostly cloth diapers (about 1700 of them to date-of course I don't have that many, that's just the laundry tally!), made most of my baby food (if you count pureeing canned pears!) but still use 4-7 jars a week (for supper) as well as a yogurt a night (I think he would die if he didn't get his yogurt!), completely breastmilk (yeah!) and well as of the stuff from scratch, he eats a lot of leftovers for lunch (thankfully he still likes the baked ziti from last week, I'm sick of it!) and a frozen waffle (not homemade!) every morning. So I guess it's all evened out. I did work last night and got home safely despite the snow (although I couldn't make it all the way up the driveway!).

Wes finished the slideshow for Robert's 1st year and I got to see it yesterday morning and I almost bawled. Wow, he's really grown! Ya'll will be able to see if at his 1st birthday!

Here's a pic of the goomer

Robert's life

Robert's life
Today was Robert's first full day in the church nursery without me! He did great (and so did I). And then he had lunch with the young adults while we had a congregational board meeting (the young adults who aren't members agreed to watch the kids and they had special kid food for them). He's been a litle fussy these past few days and finally got tooth #2 (the other bottom one) yesterday and is now working on the top 2. Poor guy. He's also walking more and more, still only a few steps here and there but walking. I was telling Wesley that it's taken me almost a full year to get my life back to manageable. I feel like I can keep up with stuff (housework, cooking, church stuff etc) as well now as before (of course working part time helps too!). I can't immagine life with 2! I was going to leave a picture but Wes still hasn't downloaded pics off the camera so maybe next time!

Robert's life

Robert's life
Wow, my boy's getting so big. He's up to 31 inches tall which is plenty tall to get into the sippy cup drawer (the only one except for the top silverware drawer we didn't lock. He's babbling more now, saying something that sounds like "thank you" (tank too), "pee bo" (peek a boo), and once we heard diaper (immitating what we said back). Of course the talking is non stop one day and non existant the next. He's still on the cusp of walking. He stands well and can take a step but prefers not to! Little goomer! He's still on antibiotics for an ear infection (took him to the doctor last wednesday), he takes medicine really well! That's all for now!

Robert's life

Robert's life
Well, we're both feeling a little better today so I guess I should blog! I ended up calling in twice last week and finally went to the doctor and got antibiotics for a sinus infection. Robert's still congested but he's teething-his first tooth poked through the 19th (still not visable really but you can feel it through!) and took his first step yesterday at Clif and Hollie's new house (to mommy!). I was so excited. Of course he hasn't done it since but he is standing unassisted more, although he can't get to a standing position on his own yet (has to pull up on something). He loves pushing his 2 wagons and does it non stop (if he can find a willing parent to get him unstuck when he hits something-Wes and I have started alternating when we're both home-we each do 3 laps and then it's the other person's turn.

I'm having 1st b-day denial, I can't believe my baby's turning 1! He was just a newborn, wasn't he? Now he's heck on wheels and turning the TV on and off and getting into everything...

Robert's life

Robert's life
Today I got my first enthusiastic ovation for my cooking. Robert applauded me throughout the whole meal. And it was Kraft mac and cheese! Wes went to Nanny's for Tuesday night supper but since we're still sick I decided we should stay home. So we did and I made my favorite (and Wesley's NOT favorite) mac and cheese. Well evidently Robert sides with me on this one, he'd eat a handfull, aplaud, eat another one, clap again... It was way cute. And very appreciated.

Robert's life

Robert's life

Work's really been picking up so I've worked a bunch this week, hense no postings :(. Wednesday was my first meeting day without Robert and it was bittersweet! I was so happy to be able to spend Thursday home with him and we had a great day. Friday I worked ASC (ambulatory surgery: 6am-2pm) and was able to leave around 1 pm and ran a couple errands and went to the gym while he was at Megans. Then we took him for his first haircut and Charlie's. Robert is the 4th generation of Furr males to go to him (Wes' grandpa used to, he, his dad, and his brother all still go there) and he did Wesley's first haircut too. He did great for it! And he looks so grown up now! Saturday we spent moving Clif and Hollie into their new house and Robert started with the sniffles which culminated into coughing and throwing up (all the milk he had just drunk) in our bed this morning (yuck!). He evidently is sick enough for that but well enough to scatter all of our plastic containers around the house. I don't feel very good either so the 2 of us skipped church. Thankfully now he's napping and I'm trying to get some pictures up on the web and on a CD to print! Still no teeth but very swollen gums. However he seems to think he needs to brush his teeth so maybe they're comming? Maybe by the time he's 2 :) Haircut pictures are up on the website www.megley.com/photos

Robert's life

Robert's life

Wow! Robert slept from 9pm-9:45 am-thank heavens! But then he only napped 45 minutes all day so I am TIRED! He's a busy boy! I ended up working until 3 am and didn't get to bed until 4 am so it was heaven to be able to sleep in! Yesterday was also quite a milestone day-it was the last (regular) day that I took Robert to meetings. I talked with his babysitter and she's going to keep him while I'm in meetings. I think I'm finally ready to let go-and neither of us is enjoying him being in meetings! I think he'll be a lot happier at the baby sitter's. I'm amazed that I've been able to take him this long though-he's almost 10 1/2 months, so he's been to a lot of meetings! Poor guy. We'll, just wanted to write a quick update. I only got not quite 6 hours of sleep last night/this morning so I think I'll hit the hay. Robert's accomplishments for the day include splashing in the dog's water bowl (had to completely change his clothes!), flushing the toilet and figuring out how to click a click pen. Yikes! Good night!

Robert's life

Robert's life
Someone switched our baby for an energizer bunny... how do we get the baby back? It's been a crazy few days in Lake Wobegon. Robert is systematically destroying our house (and Wes' parents, and his grandmothers). Today he unplugged a lamp, got into a cupboard we had latched, ran amuck through the hospital, took toys away from kids at story time, chased a ball, tried to figure out the ball poppers (work better if you can walk), crawled to the person reading at story time... Last night he crawled to Wesley's set up tripod and stood with it for the longest while. It was so cute. He's also really developing a sense of humor. He points to all sorts of things and laughs. He has the dearest chortle/giggle! OK, here's a picture.