Wow!

I've been really bad about blogging lately. I think my plan with "back to school" next week is to try to get our lives much more on a schedule. Hopefully this will mean much more blogging.
What's new with us? I've been hitting the job search hard again. At this point, I've been applying mostly for part time positions, so that we can hopefully manage to keep Carter out of daycare for a little bit longer. (FYI, i have no issues with actually putting kids in daycare, it's just an expense we can't afford at this point.)
I've also been busy looking for a new sewing machine. I made almost $300 sell stuff I no longer needed at a family garage sale, so I can afford to buy a much nicer machine. I think I will be investing in a Brothers machine in the next week or two. The one that I want has the ability to monogram. :) This will also come in handy for one of the Christmas presents I want to make for Carter and maybe some of his little friends. I'll post pictures once I start them.
Carter is growing so tall and skinny now, just like his daddy. He's starting to talk so much more now and in short phrases. His favorites are "what is it? an "want that." My favorite addition to the list is "I love Ray". (The neighbor dog at my parents.) I will not say that he loves anything else, just Ray.
Tim might have a potential job development. Right now it's too early to say if it will become anything. If this works out somehow, it would be the answer to so many prayers.
My mom is doing fairly well in the first two weeks of chemo. She's tired, but no other real side effects yet. Her head is starting to get itchy, so that means that her hair will probably start to fall out soon. Luckily, I saved quite a few silk scarves from my buying office days, that she'll have a pretty good variety to wear. I'm tempted to email a few of my old vendors to see if I could buy hats directly from them, so that I could get some fun ones.

10 year reunion

This weekend we went to Tim's 10 year reunion. Tim had a great time catching up with his classmates. I, on the otherhand, was bored out of my mind. First of all, it was held at a bar that I would consider was for somewhat of a rough crowd. It was potluck and the times for it were 3pm until 1am. Many people disn't show up until around 8pm or so. Probably not the best plan for a potluck. I guess I'm really just not a fan of having to make small talk and answer the same questions over and over again. (And hearing the same stories over and over again)Tim is definatley on his own for the next one.
Carter had a great time hanging out with his cousins Lauren and Ben. We also enjoyed going to the Steele County Fair. (Think the State fair divided by 10)

Bad news

Well, my mom's doctors changed their mind on the chemo. After presenting my mom's case at a medical conference last week, her doctor decided that she for sure needed to have chemo. And not just the typical chemo of breast cancer patients. 12 week of once a week treatments (that take more than 3 hours a time) and then every other week for the rest of the year. Sucky!
Althought this will diminish her chance of getting cancer again, this is still quite a set back from what we thought.
Please keep my mom in your prayers! It's going to be a difficult year.

Updates

Well, things never seem to go quite as planned.
1. I have been trying to finish up two baby quilts for one of my sweet former co-workers who just had twin baby girls. The pieces have been cut, one has been sewn together, but otherwise the progress has stopped. I'd like to get them sent by Monday at the latest. We'll see if that happens.
2. I'm still not finished with my doll quilt for the swap. I finally figured out what I want to do though, so hopefully it just needs an hour or two of work.
3. I still haven't made any decisions on what ECFE classes I should sign Carter up for. I have three choices at the school I would like to go to, but I'm indecivice of what day or whether I should sign up for one of the mixd groups. So far i haven't heard of any of the kids in Carter's class from last year that will be signing up at this school.
4. On the bright side, we are setting up a playgroup with two of the other moms and little boys from last years group. We plan to get together every other Wednesday.
5. The daycare for the baby didn't pan out. I'm am now waiting to see if I get an interview for some afterschool nanny jobs. I have also been apply for lots of part time jobs.

The unknown

Right now I'm playing the waiting game. I have no idea what I will really end up doing this fall. There really haven't been any decent job prospects lately. From what it sounds like, this recession stuff really isn't going to turn around until at least January. So I'm not really holding my breath on a job in the traditional sense of the word.
I decided to officially offer to do daycare for the 5 month old. Now I am just waiting to hear back whether or not her mom is still interested. I figure if it's meant to be, it'll work out. And if not, that's okay too.
Tim is taking a class today to try to get approved for some funding for an emergency responder class. This would be the first step on the way to become a paramedics. While this is not his dream job, it looks like the chance of getting into law enforcement just isn't going to happen anytime soon for him. For every job in this area, there are thousands of applicants. And the market just keeps getting more saturated.

Wait- it's already August?!

I'm really not sure where July went. We've been busy, but I'm not 100% sure with what. I guess one of our more major things was Carter's 12 month appointment today. He is 31 inches tall (90%) and 23.5 lbs (50%). My big concerns for this appointment was the trasition to only sippy cups and whole milk. Carter had been refusing to drink whole milk from the sippy and when I diluted it with an ounce of formula he would drink it and then throw it up. We came up with the plan to be done with bottles. As long as Carter will take 2 oz of milk at each meal we won't worry about it too much yet. If he continues to throw it up, we'll try switching to lactose free milk. So far this has worked pretty well, getting him to drink 6 oz of milk is sometimes a challenge. On the days he won't drink it at meals, I offer it at snack.
This weekend we have the wedding of one of the girls I grew up with. It should hopefully be fun. It'll be nice to be out for the night baby free. The only bummer is missing my cousin Joe's 5th birthday party. (Which reminds me I still need to go get him a present. Any ideas?)
I'm still sewing away for the quilt swap. I think I might actually have found an idea that I like. Hopefully my partner will feel the same way! I need to get something done today! :)

Beer with Green Olives and other thoughts

Some people think it's gross, but to me on a summer night (after a very long day) there is nothing better.
A few updates. My mom is healing fairly well. She got fitted for her prothesis today. It's looking like at this point she won't need any chemo or radiation. She is so lucky to have caught the cancer early. (Memo for all of you out there- stay up on your routine dr. visits and get a mamogram.)
Carter took his first steps on his own about a week ago. He is becoming more and more brave. I don't know if I would consider him walking yet since he doesn't really take more than 8-10 steps at a time, but he's getting their. His climbing skills have also improved. Things that formerly were safe on kitchen and bathroom counters are now fair game. On his tippy toes, he is almost tall enough to reach the door handles at my parents house.
His most adorable new habit is sharing. He loves to share his blankie and food with everyone. (He does also feel that everyone should share with him also. This sometimes is more of an issue in public. One example is when he thought a little girl we didn't know at a local fair should share her corn dog with him.)
The less adorable habit he has developped lately is throwing food off his tray. We have started to take his tray away every time we catch him throwing food on the floor on purpose. He gets a second chance after one minute. If we catch him doing it again, the meal is over. He's been much better about it the last couple days because we have been very consistent on how we react to his behavior.
Not a whole lot to update about me. I'm doing my first quilt exchange on flickr. I am in awe of all the talent in the group of 200 or so quilters. I am still just a beginner, but I am so inspired to try new thing because of all of the beautiful work I've seen in the past week.
I'm am also reaching a point in the job searching where I don't know where to go from here. I have the possible option of doing daycare for a 4 month old starting in the end of August. I've been praying about this alot because I'm not sure if this is the right move for me or not. On one hand, it would be nice to be able to make some money and still not have to put Carter in daycare. On the otherhand, doing daycare will not make a ton of money, and I'm not sure I'll be able to do the same things with Carter and a baby as I would with Carter alone. Tim thinks I should say yes and continue to job hunt. I don't feel like I can make the commitment to watch this baby and potentially take a job. Anyone have any thoughts for me on the subject? Either way I decide, I need to be making some moeny soon. But would it be better for my family for me to get a part time job?
Tim has been super busy with work and trying to get a handyman business started. I think he could potentially make this into something full time if the economy turns around anytime soon.