Benefit of a somewhat sick baby

The one benefit of Carter feeling not so hot yet is that he'll actually nap. It almost makes up for being up with him a couple times a night. (Ha ha, not really, but it helps keep my sanity.)
I had a hard time deciding if we should go to ECFE or not today. We ended up going because he wasn't coughing and his nose had pretty much stopped running after being up for an hour. I feel pretty good about this decision because the majority of the kids' noises were running. I guess I'll see how he is tomorrow morning to decide if we need to go in or not.
I'm hoping to get pictures taken of some of my recently finished projects. I've been getting better at getting some stuff done. And I'm looking into taking some quilting classes. I found the most amazing pattern that I would love to make for when we have another baby someday. (And no, I am not pregnant and do not plan to be anytime in the near future, but with how long it seems to take me to finish things, I figure I better start now.)
It's funny because we've been talking out when we want to have another kid. The consenus pretty much is that we would like Carter to be around 2 (Tim says closer to 3, but I'd prefer closer to 2) and that we have to be in a better financial state. So hopefully everything will work out for us to get us to that point.

Cold Watch 2009: Day 9

It seems as if this cold will never go away for Carter. He's just as congested and cranky as he was on the first day. I think I'll take him into the doctor if he's not feeling better in another day or two. I know they can't do much for him since it's just a cold, but I'll feel like a bad mommy if I don't. Right now he's on his third short nap for the day. I'm hoping Tim will be back by the time Carter wakes up because I need a break!

Job and Weekend updates

No new news to report on Tim's possible job in St. Peter. All we know is going into the background section he was rated 1st out of the three candidates that they chose to continue on with. What this really means about his odds for getting the job, we don't really know. My feelings about the situation are still all over the map.
On the bright side, Tim got called back to his former jobs for atleast the next six weeks. He is in training for other positions, after the training it looks like they'll only have some part time hours for him. Basically this means atleast six more weeks not having to worry about having health insurance and it buys us more time to figure things out.
The only news on the job front for me is that I scored the highest test score you can get on the census bureau's test. This hopefully means that I will be called up soon to do some temporary work.
My class load, while only considered half time, has turned into a lot this semester. This week I am one of the dicussion leaders for my online honors sociology class. The subject matter is really interesting, but I spend atleast an hour a day on a normal week for this class, and much more this week being a leader. My stress levels are rather high right now!
Studying + Sick, cranky baby= very stressed out mommy
Carter has been a sick/cranky mess this week. He picked up a cold last weekend and has been teething like crazy. Today was day 8 of the cold, so we're hopeing he should be getting much better soon! Teething should get better too because his front two teeth have finally popped. This hopefully means he'll start sleeping better again.
So my latest wish is to learn how to quilt. I think I understand most of the basics from what I've read online, but I really feel like I need someone to show me how to do the actual "quilting" and binding part of the process. Anyone know how to and want to teach me? (Wishful thinking, I know!) I think I'll be asking for quilting classes for my b-day. Too bad it's not until June. Check out one of the ones I really want to make. http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/02/stacked-coins-baby-quilt.html

Swimming

We took Carter to the pool for the first time yesterday. He absolutely loved it. The only time he even got upset was after we were out of the pool and he was cold and hungry.

Odds and Ends

So Tim went on a ride-along with the potential city employer last Friday. He really liked the philosophy of the department of the department and the people. The next step is an interview when he turns in his background packet. After that it's a waiting game. We have no idea how long it might take for the department to investigate and review all three canididates.
I don't even really know how I feel about it all. It's Tim's dream to have a police officer position. In this economy there are hundreds of applicants for every position. I want him to be able to have his dream. But I'm also really scared to not have my safety net of most of my friends and family members with a 15 minute radius. Being an adult it's so much harder to make new friends! I like being able to have girls nights and playdates with my friends' kids on a regular basis. And it's not like 90 minutes is that far away, but in some ways it is.
Tim's dad is so excited about the job. He has it all planned out that once Tim has the job that we'll see them all the time since we'll be only about a half hour away. And I'll take classes at MSU to work on my doctorate. Sometimes I even wonder if he thinks we'll be building a house on their land like my brother in law and sister in law did. Tim and I have tentively decided we won't take any actions on moving until after he would be out of the probationary period, which would probably be next spring. Until then Carter and I will stay at home and Tim will commmute it and/or stay at his parents when he works. They do 10 hours shifts, so it will be less of an issue.

Blah!

Not a whole lot new to update. We're down at Tim's parents for Thursday-Sat., so that Tim can do a ride a long with the city he is hoping to work for. Carter's sleep got all screwed up since he usually sleeps in the car, so he was up until 10:30last night (4 hours past his normal bed time). He was also up twice last night because he got scared. Lately he tends to get scared any time he can't see Tim or I. Otherwise he does really well around people and is very friendly.
I'm feeling very unfocused right now. I have no idea what I ideally would like to be doing. Since I've had the chance to step back and consider which career path I'd truelly like to take, I feel like I know even less what I want to do. I think part of the confusion can be attributed to the fact that I love being home with Carter. I know this is realistically not a good long term plan because finanically we can't afford it and I really don't want to be stuck with out a career once all of our kids are in school.

Today

Today is day three of Tim not working. He is already going stir crazy. So far he has made a list of all the dimentions of every surface in the house that needs to be painted. He really needs to find something to do because he's driving me crazy! Carter seems to be feeding off all of it.
Yesterday Tim and I went on our first date since Carter. We went to a movie in the afternoon while my brother watched Carter (A Christmas present) and then later out to dinner with a giftcard we had gotten for valentine's day last year. It was really nice to be ab le to get out and do something fun.

Some new pictures

Possible Good News

We might actually have good news for one. Remember the interview Tim had a couple weeks ago that he didn't think he had done that well at? He must have done much better than he had thought because going into the background round, he is ranked number one. Does this mean he'll get the job? Not necessarily. If he passes the background (which you can be not considered for almost anything), then the decision will go before the city board to decide. If the city board approves him, he'll still need to pass a psychological and physical test. So it's still a long road ahead before we will be making any decisions on moving, etc. I think the tentative plan right now would be for Tim to commute it until he is through the probational period. Once he is through that, we would start to put up our townhouse for sale and start house hunting there.
Yesterday I took Carter to church. We've been really bad at going since he was born since it's such a pain. He did so well! He made it through the whole service without crying. He loved all the music. Carter also made friends with the people sitting behind us. He is definitely an extrovert!
I also took him to Como park conservatory to see the spring flower display with my parents. He was amazed at all of the flowers and wanted to touch them all (and pull them out). I'll have to get the pictures from my parents. They turned out so cute!

Happy 7 month B-day

I can't believe Carter is 7 months old today.
It's gone by so fast!

Not a good week

The first week in February will now go down in history for our family as a bad week. Today Tim officially got the notice that he is completely done with work as of this weekend. The 6th will be the anniversary of time getting the Macy's layoff announcement. I'm officially in a funk. I've been apply like crazy to any job that I am even slightly qualified for. At this point, I'm even looking at minimum wage stuff. I am most worried about being without health insurance. We're lucky that Carter has been pretty healthy so far, but even one doctor's trip would be enough set us into financial ruins.
I so badly want to stay positive. I am generally a positive person. I just can't seem to find the positive side of any of us. I know all I can do at this point is keep applying for jobs, be as financially smart as possible, and pray.

School Days

Carter's first day of early childhood classes went well. He loved singing songs and playing with the toys. His only major freak out was when another baby tried to pull his hair. Apparently all the excitement from the class wore him out because he fell asleep in my arms in the last 10 minutes or so. So if you have kids, I highly recommend checking out your local school district for classes. They are cheap (We paid $15 for the whole spring semester) and fun. Moundsview District even has Saturday classes, which I think we will join if I ever find a job.

ECFE

Carter and I have our first day of ECFE classes tomorrow. I'm very excited. He was on the borderline for the the groups. He's two weeks too young to be placed in the "Movers" group, I thought he might be somewhat bored in the other group if he was attempting to crawl and most of the other babies are just lying there. I had to ask for permission, but they decided it should be fine. It should be fun!

A few project updates

Here are a few pictures of some of the recent projects we've completed (and a few new Carter pics too.)

First, here are my valentine's day cards. They are made of buttons and red cardstock. Pretty easy to make, minus the hot glue injuries I sustained.


Second, here is the Christmas present that Carter "gave" me. Tim wanted to give me foot prints of Carter, so we used some Crayola air dry to make the prints. If you want to do this, I recommend have two adults to make the prints. First roll out the clay to the correct size (about a half inch or so bigger than the matting you plan to use). I think we had it to about a 1/4 inch thickness. We then had one of us holding Carter and the other positioning his feet to make the print. It took us a couple tries to get it right. We let the clay dry for about a week and then placed it in the frame. We also made sure to date the print on the back. I love it!

Last here are tow updated photos of Carter. The first is of him in his bear suit. The second is playing with his jungle that Uncle Jeff, Aunt Heather, and cousins Ben and Lauren gave him for Christmas.

Weekend Update

Overall we had a pretty good weekend. Tim ended up working crazy hours on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Carter and I spent Friday night and most of Saturday hanging out with my parents. Friday I took inventory of all the clothes we have for Carter in the next two sizes. I figured out that we weren't doing too bad and pretty much just needed to get him a few pairs of shorts and jeans to outfit him for the summer. Saturday we went to Albertville because I had a few things I needed to exchange. We ended up at the Carter's outlet store which tends to always be dangerous for my mom and I. We ended up finding a bunch of really cute shorts and tee shirts and a really cute swim outfit (swimsuit, hat, and shirt with SPF 50). I can't wait for him to get the chance to wear it all.
Sunday I had Liz and Meaghan over for brunch. It was really fun having the girls over (and a really good push to get the house clean!) Tim, Carter, and I went over for Sunday dinner and to watch the Superbowl with my parents later in the day. I watch for the commericals, not the game. The Doritos crystal ball one was my favorite. ()

It's going to be a busy week!