So, clearly I'm terrible at this now. Lots to update! Aside from the monthly survey I'm going to do again here's some news. Doug quit his job at Applebee's. It was just going down hill fast, not that it ever started good. The hours were crappy and he had to commute 30 miles there and back. It was a distance problem (ie, gas money!!) versus a time problem. Plenty of people commute 30 minutes, just not usually 30 miles in a car. So his hours were roughly 3 pm to 3 am. Then he'd be up until 5 am, sleep until 1 or 2 pm and off to work again. Notice how there's no time for family. He was supposed to have every other weekend off, but never did. Shortly after he began one of the other managers was fired and the staff got rearranged. Just before he left they finally got a new manager in. It took 7 months! So they were always short handed. Too many other things to go into. So here's the short story of the final straw: While dealing with a customer complaint at one table, another table had a complaint and felt he did not get to them fast enough. They wrote a formal complaint to the company. The distract manager at first wanted to fire him (Doug found this out via e-mail communication between the district manager and the store manager- and it was in the basic manager e-mail so they weren't trying to hide anything). The store manager fought for him to stay but he was basically told to cut losses (ie not compensate so much when people are mad) and increase productivity and that he could still be fired at any time. He chose to put in his 2 weeks notice instead of dealing with all of that. Because when customers complain about the food, while there is teamwork, it's not his fault and yet he has to take the fall for it.
He started working part time with his father's plumbing, electrical and heating company. He's decided to get his journeyman's license in plumbing as he has enough hours in experience and just needs some classroom training which he can do via distance learning.
In the mean time I've been looking for a job and have at least one possibility. He was also hired at a rental car company on a Friday. On Saturday he was told it would be 50 hours a week. They were closed on Sunday. On Monday he was told that they decided to hire another person and only give him part time hours. He had Tuesday off. On Tuesday the boss showed up at our house and said that his wife decided to do most of the admin work and so Doug had no job. This came after I had a little fender bender the day before and also had a chance to start working at Kohl's but the lady was really stupid and didn't call me in time. She called me at 6:30 on Sunday while I was at church. I didn't get the message until 10:30 and the store closed at 8. The message was about starting orientation the next day at 9 am. I called as soon as the store was open but all the slots were filled and she sounded so annoyed that I wasn't available between 6:30-8pm on a Sunday regarding 14 hours of notice. I wasn't able to sleep at all in between. I had no clue how things were going to work out if I was able to start the training. How long was it going to be? I didn't have any milk pumped, if it was more than 4 hours I'd have to buy formula I guess, which I hate the thought of doing just for something like that. Who could I get to babysit? I didn't have a clue for how long it would be! Who could I get at 7 am? Ugh, the anxiety, just to be told it wouldn't work out anyway!
Fortunately, Doug has found another job and officially starts on Friday, though he put in some hours tonight. It's doing some odd jobs for a man who knew Doug's maternal grandfather growing up. "Bampa," as he's called, ran his father's farms and he idolized him. Hopefully this job will work out. Hours are supposed to be 9am-6pm Mon-Wed and Friday, 9am-1pm on Saturday, with Thursday and Sunday off.
Also, my mother and youngest brother are moving in. My sister has moved to VA Beach! I really miss her actually. And I really wish we'd have some money to visit her (and the beach, of course!) We'll see, but I doubt it will happen before school starts for her. Speaking of school, I still haven't started a new semester, hopefully I can get that taken care of soon!
On to Teddy!!
Monthly Survey
1. How old is baby? Today he is 8 months 2 weeks and 2 days old. I have an online ticker, I don't just know all that off the top of my head, lol.
2. Stats: Using home measurements
a. Weight: 21 pounds on our scale
b. Height: 27.5 inches (95th percentile) back on 5/16, I haven't tried to measure him
c. Clothes size: Mostly 6-9 months but those are getting a bit tight in the sleepers. He fits 9-12 just fine too, so I really need to buy more of those (and the next size up!)
d. Diaper size: Still medium for cloth diapers
e. Hair color: Still red!!
f. Eye color: blue, looking kind of gray we think they may turn green!!
g. Anything else? His head was 17.5 cm (50th percentile) on 5/16
3. Milestones:
a. Teething: he has his 2 bottom teeth and last we checked we could feel 4 top ones, but it doesn't look like any are very close to popping through.
b. Talking: Still just Agoo and other vowels. No mama or dada yet!
c. Rolling: All.over.the.place.:)
d. Walking: While holding on to our hands and he's getting really good at it!
e. Crawling: yep, he's been crawling for just over a week now!
f. Anything else?
4. Things he likes:
a. Toys: He loves his excersaucer! It's an old school Graco one but does the job. He favors toys that are easy to get in his mouth. His Uncle Jon Jon bought him a sit and walk Winnie the Pooh toy which he loves! And his musical puppy.
b. Books: I have Goodnight Moon memorized and we read stories before bed. He will finally let me sit and read and he will either try to scratch the pages or help me turn it.
c. Songs: He likes Skinamrinky dinky dink, Jesus Loves Me and really most other songs he hears. The other night he was trying to dance to the music at church!
d. TV Shows: He doesn't really watch but he'll glance up when Ziva is on while I watch NCIS. It's weird. I think he likes her voice and thinks she is pretty.
e. Other activities: He loves his car seat these days! He will try to climb out of my arms to get into it. He knows that we're going some where fun when he sees it! It's been really hot out lately so I haven't been as good about walking, even though I try to do it earlier in the day.
5. Things she dislikes: The stackable ring toy because the one I bought is actually kind of slippery and he just knocks it over so it frustrates him. He also hates not being able to get things in his mouth.
6. Sleeping: It's decent. He's dropped to just 2 naps and I think is trying to drop to one as well. Right now he's going from 7-10:30 awake time and then will nap from 10:30-noon. Then he won't need another nap until 3:30 or 4 but it messes with bed time some. Today he woke a little late (8:30) and didn't go to sleep until 11 and slept until 1. Then he stayed up until bed time at 6:30. I gave him 25 minutes of quiet time in the crib around 5 though. Bed time is still around 6:30-7 most nights, unless he has a real late nap, and of course not on the weekends because of church. He will sleep until about 12 hours from when he went to bed or 8 am, whichever is earlier ;). But he will wake anywhere from 1-3 times still. And yes, he's still nursing at night, even though I guess he's probably not truly hungry.
7. Eating: He's nursing every 3-4 hours, it varies by his naps. He's also getting 3 meals of solids a day (unless it's terribly inconvenient). He loves almost anything pureed but isn't seeming to like chunks of food as much. He loves Cheerios though!
8. Nicknames: Teddy, Teddy Bear, Chunky, Chunky Monkey, Chunk a Monk, Chunkers, Smiley, Wiggle worm, Silly, Son, The Boy, Honey, Sweetie, Sweetie Pie, Angel, Lovey....I'm sure there's lots of others!
9. Things we’re looking forward to next month: He's got a 9 month appointment coming up and will get vaccines for that. I started using Dr. Sear's schedule but I think I'm gong to put him on the regular schedule now since it's likely he will start day care soon and we don't have insurance right now either. I can't wait to get his official stats.
10. How I like motherhood: I LOVE it! He amazes me every day! Even these last few days when I've been sick with vertigo he's been so great. It's like he knew he had to take it easy on me!
a. Likes: I love watching him learn and play. I love the hugs, kisses and smiles I get! He's the most important thing I will ever do with my life and so much more important than anything else. I'm still getting my MA in history but I feel like I had a lot of pointless conversations in college that made it seem like politics etc. were so important and they're just not. Nothing is as important as being a good parent.
b. Dislikes: There isn’t much I don’t like. Sometimes I wish I had more “me” time.
