Goodbye 2008!

As I look back at how much my life has changed in the past year, I am absolutely amazed. This time last year, I was 5 months pregnant and just barely showing. This time last year, I was working as a day to day substitute teacher. This time last year, we had a Christmas tree because we had plenty of room in our living room. This time last year, our living room had a couch, coffee table, and dining room table in it.

Flash forward–I now have a beautiful 8 month old little boy named JJ who brings absolute joy to my life. I am teaching kindergarten in a school that I love. We have no Christmas tree, but instead have a baby swing, exersaucer, jumperoo and various other baby toys in our living room.

It’s been a heck of a year. JJ has been through a lot, having lots of little illnesses, including a UTI that he was hospitalized for. Despite it all, he’s been thriving. Sitting at 5 months, crawling and standing supported at 6 months, cruising at 7 1/2 months. Now his latest endeavor is knee walking which is adorable. He’s got a gorgeous little smile and laughs all the time. He talks a lot too, although his favorite word is dada. We’re still working on mama.

John has turned into a wonderful father, just like I knew he would. It was a little rough at first, because I think he didn’t really know what to do with him when he was tiny, but now that the little guy is bigger and moving and active, he and daddy are playing all of the time. Plus, he is an expert putter-to-sleeper. Mommy has a hard time with that.

Needless to say, although my hours are longer, I find myself wanting to come home sooner so I can be with the little love bug. I’m glad to be back at work, but I certainly am enjoying the time I spend at home too.

What will next year bring? Hopefully a permanent position where I’m currently at. Hopefully, a little less in debt that I currently am. Hopefully becoming an even better wife and mother. Hopefully a raise for John and a little more respect at work. I have a feeling it’s going to be an amazing year. God only knows….We’ve got about 8 more hours until we find out. Hopefully our first night’s sleep of 2009 will be a great one! (By the way, JJ. That was a hint for you! Ha-ha!)

I never would have known…

Everybody always says, “Just wait until you’re a parent. Then you’ll understand.” This applies to many things, such as the unconditional love a parent feels for a child, the pain a parent feels when a child hurts, and the helplessness a parent feels when their baby is is sick, in pain, or hurting emotionally. It’s only been a few months since JJ has come into our lives and I have experienced all of these and more.

When JJ was in the hospital at 2 1/2 months old, I felt incredibly helpless. There was nothing I could do to make him feel better and he obviously was hurting. Whenever I see that smiling face look at me and laugh, I can’t help but smile and laugh because of all the joy he’s brought into our lives. When he’s laying in bed sniffling and congested, I wish there was something that I could do to make his life a little easier. When he started sitting at 5 months, crawling at 6 months, and cruising at 7 1/2 months, I felt the most pride I have ever felt. I could only imagine my feelings when he walks, says “I love you,” graduates kindergarten, or goes to college.

Even on those nights when he wakes up constantly crying and inconsolable, these emotions don’t go away. Sure, in the short term I’m not happy and might even feel frustrated, but I always want to figure out what’s going on so I can fix it. Isn’t that a parent’s job? That’s going to be so hard for me when I have to let him fix his own problems. I’m sure he’ll figure it out though. He’s an amazing little boy.

It’s been awhile!

So I’ve been so so busy lately. I just realized that it’s been darn near two weeks since the last time I posted. I’m finally on Christmas break from school and it’s definitely a much needed break. I’m loving being able to be home with the baby again. It’s really nice. I’ve been out of work for 5 days now and haven’t yet had time to be bored.

We did Christmas with my dad Sunday. We met with my mom, stepdad, brother, sister-in-law, niece and of course John and JJ. We had the breakfast buffet at the Marriott and it was delicious. They do made to order omelettes which I think are the best. Plus they have the best fresh fruit. It was yummy. JJ got a few nice toys, a stocking, and some munchies. His grandma and great-grandma sent him some gifts too. He got a stocking, bib, and baby’s first Christmas hat.  The landlords even got the baby some gifts–one is an ornament and the other is yet to be unwrapped.

JJ is starting to feed himself now. He eats cut-up bananas, pieces of itty bitty pasta, and the best gift of all–strawberry apple puffs. He loves those! He’s even getting a tooth. I’ve been feeling it in his mouth (bottom center) for darn near two weeks now.  It hasn’t quite popped through though. He’s handling it pretty well though.

Well, tomorrow is Christmas and we’ll be celebrating with family. I’ll give you more updates later!

Genetics Appointment

JJ had his genetics appointment today. We went to see Dr. Virginia Kimonis with CHOC at UCI Medical Center. The first thing they did was weigh and measure him. He is 16 lbs 13 oz and 27 inches long. We went in and discussed the baby’s personal medical history, as well as the medical history of both sides of the family. She then did a physical which was really in depth. She took measurements of the distance between his eyes, the length of the bridge of his nose, how long his ears were and how long his fingers were. She also did his reflexes. She told us that usually when there is one genetic anomaly by itself, it’s usually not a cause for concern. However, when there are more than one occuring together, it sometimes is part of a genetic syndrome. There are three major anomalies: kyphoscoliosis, undescended testicle, and ptosis. The minor anomalies that she was slightly concerned about were his small nose, sticking out ears, one ear slightly bigger than the other, thin upper lip, and sticking out tongue. The sticking out ears and thin upper lip are both family traits.

Anyhow, she wanted to do some blood tests that would give us the same types of results as a chromosomal analysis would. We couldn’t get the tests done today because one of them required an authorization from the insurance so we will go back in a couple of weeks to get that done. We will be going back in February to discuss the results of the blood tests as well as the results from the data she took. So….we’ll see. She wasn’t so concerned because he is meeting all of his developmental milestones so well and he doesn’t have anything obvious. Updates to follow.

More and more pictures!

So stinkin’ busy…no time for NOTHIN!

Okay, so my title is a little hick-ish if that’s even a word. I used to be a devoted blogger, blogging a little each day. Now, I rarely have time for stuff like that. Heck, I rarely have time for much of anything these days. My days begin at 5 am—well okay, okay. You got me. They really begin at about 5:40 a.m. by the time I really drag my butt out of bed. I’m out the door by 7:15 and return home between 4:15 and 5:30. Most days, I’m not even in bed until 10:30 p.m. Feel sorry for me yet? Ha! I know what most of you moms are thinking. That’s what being a mom is all about. You think you get to sleep? Give it up. That was over the minute you gave birth.

Anyways, we took a trip up to Tahoe, Chico and Sacramento last week. Boy were we busy?!? The baby and I flew in Tuesday to meet John who had been up there since the previous Friday. Our first stop was out to Chico so JJ could meet his grandpa, auntie, and great-grandparents for the first time. We did a lot of visiting. JJ also got to visit his 2 year old cousin Aubree while we were up there. He took his first ever bath in big tub and boy did he like it. Too bad we don’t have a big tub for him to take a bath in here. The sink just isn’t the same. (We know this because we also tried a sink bath while up in Chico.) We spent Thanksgiving with JJ’s great aunt and family. Loads of people came. JJ got to try turkey for the first time and he loved it. (Well it was turkey and sweet potatoes and it went over way better than the plain turkey we had earlier this week.)

After Thanksgiving, we decided to skip the sales. (Too dang cold for a mama and baby to be out before the sun comes up.) We drove out to Sacramento to watch John’s brother get married. Never thought that would happen! (Just kidding, Steven.) Anyhow, we’re all glad he’s making such positive changes in his life. He’s a much different person than he was a few years ago when I first met John. I’m excited for he and his new wife who are expecting a little girl early next year.

We decided to head on out to Tahoe to spend our last day of vacation with friends and family. We visited with Steve, Sissy, and the girls which John was super excited about. We also got to spend a little bit of time with JJ’s grandma and Nana. Everyone seems to be doing decently.

On a completely different note, I just found out that I won’t be getting a contract from Adams. As long as a leave of absence is filed and not a letter of resignation, then the position must be filled by a long-term sub and not a newly hired teacher. Sucks for me….but what do you expect with all the budget cuts? Why would they want to fork out the extra money for benefits and salary? But, I’m getting lots of professional development courses out of the way and if I stay here all year, then I will have my first year done for clearing my credential. That takes a little stress off as I’ll have 3 years to get my last year of clearing done. I can’t wait. As soon as I get my clear credential, we’ll start trying for baby #2. Plus my resume will be amped up with all the extra work I’m putting into this.

A little math for you: A full year teaching at a sub salary–approximately 21,000. Lowest starting teacher salary–approximately 47,000. Per my principal, the state of California would have to cut 160,000 teaching jobs or close every school in California for 25 days to be able to meet the budgetary demands the state is thinking of putting on California. Get real! Sheesh.

Anyhow, there’s been a lot going on, but I’m running out of time and energy to write anymore. Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of MY LIFE!

Baby and Santa’s First Visit

Two days into December and Santa is already at the mall and outlet stores. Today our sitter / friends / landlord took our little one out to see Santa and captured two cute pictures of JJ sitting on Santa’s Lap.

We will most likely take him ourselfs a little later in the month to treasure the moment as well. Here are the pictures taken today.

Pictures from our recent trip to NorCal

VBAC

So lately I’ve been thinking of how I want to deliver my next child….no, no, no. Don’t worry. I’m not pregnant and I don’t plan on being that way for at least a couple of years. Anyhow, I would like to be given the opportunity to have a vaginal birth. Having a C-section was not in my plans initially. I felt as if I was not even given the opportunity to try. I mean, after all, I was only allowed to push for like 10 minutes before the decision was made for me.  I have already thought it out. I will only have a C-section under medically necessary conditions OR if my baby does not come after two full weeks being overdue. I definitely do not want to be induced again. After all, that wasn’t all that successful now was it?

For those of you who don’t know, VBAC stands for Vaginal Birth After Cesaraean. Many hospitals have VBAC bans and many doctors will refuse to deliver a baby VBAC. After much of my research, the risks of VBAC are virtually identical to the risks of a repeat Cesearean.  There is a slight chance of uterine rupture, but that depends on many factors. Also, induction more than doubles that risk.

I did some research. There are 14 hospitals in Riverside County. Only 1 has a VBAC rate equal to or higher than the national average and that is Kaiser. Community and Parkview have VBAC rates of less than 2%. Out of 47 hospitals in Orange and San Bernardino county, only 9 have VBAC rates equal to or higher than the national average. Besides Kaiser, they are mostly big name hospitals like UCI Medical Center, Loma Linda, and St. Jude. It looks like I’ll either have to change doctors and hospitals or change insurances if I want to have a VBAC. I at least want the opportunity to experience childbirth the way it was meant to be experienced. Then I won’t feel so bad if I do have to end up having a C-section.

Triangle Complex Fire - Southern California Fires

Southern California is on fire again and this time it sure hits close to home. The fire known as the Triangle Complex Fire started at the Green River area along the 91 Freeway heading towards Anaheim. It quickly made it’s way to darn near where my husband works so needless to say this fire is very important for us to be watching.

It doesn’t look like the fire is going to let up any time soon but it has also all but skipped completely over my husbands office. He decided to take a drive out to his work today since the freeway was open again. He took several pictures around the area he works and has since posted them on a marketing blog he writes on every now and then.

Photos of the Triangle Complex Fire

Last night we were helping some friends move and just watching the fire from a distance at night is rather impressive. According to the Orange County Fire Authority website at the time I am writing this there is a zero percent containment on this fire after burning now for roughly 29 hours.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to anyone who may be in the path of this fire or have already been devastated.