Suffering.....

From crummy allergies. Since it has been warmer outside and our upstairs gets so hot, Brice has taken it upon himself to sleep with the ceiling fan running; the only problem I have with that is that he didn't bother to dust it off before. So I have been sleeping amongst swirling allergens and I can't seem to explain to Brice (remember, paramedic??) why I am still suffering from my allergy when I am away from the house. Thank goodness Zertec is over the counter now because I will be stocking up on my way home from work.
Pictures of Karsten to come later: reading the newspaper and picking up the chicks with his cool new shades!

Quickly....

Just thought I would jot down a few thoughts before heading off to bed. I put Karsten down tonight at 7:30 and there was NO complaining. Ahhhh, the quiet, good for the ears.

I found an in-home daycare that we might put Karsten in. It is a husband and wife who are Christians and just HAPPEN to have an opening the day that we need daycare. The price is half of what we pay now at the center which is almost the car payment I have been trying to make room for.

I have been really guilty lately about not being able to be home more. I'm starting to realize that the time I am getting with Karsten lately is a couple of hours at the end of the day right before bed time and I feel like I don't get enough time to play with him. I realize that just because I have to work doesn't make me a bad mom but sometimes I feel like a bad mom because I can't be home for him all of the time. I had a really tough day last week when I ran to the mall during my lunch break to run an errand and all of these moms were there with their kids spending the day at the mall and here I was wishing that was me. Yea, these are probably SAHMs who's husbands make a 6 digit salary (I was in Eden Prairie after all) and there is no reason for them to work but I long to be able to do what these women are blessed with now. I never imagined having to go to work every day would be as difficult as it is.

I interviewed for a new position at work within the department that I currently work in and I find out if I got it next week. I'm still kind of on the ledge about whether or not I would actually accept the position. Perks: going to salary from hourly, higher pay, using a different set of skills drawbacks: mandatory overtime. If they are able to cut me a deal and give me a company laptop that I can do my overtime from home after Karsten falls asleep then I would be willing to do it but I already feel like I don't get enough mommy time with him every day. I guess I'll just see what they have to offer (if I even get it) and go from there. I can tell you right now that it will be a difficult decision to make.

I'm off to bed now - hopefully sleep comes easier tonight since the wind has calmed down (it was whipping so loud against the house last night that it was hard for me to sleep through). Don't let the bed bugs bite ;o)

2 week overview

After all the sickness in the house was finally over we packed our bags and made our annual anniversary trip up to the north shore of Lake Superior. Of course this one was special because we had Karsten with us and he had his first glimpse of the Lake and finally being able to be outside without having to be all bundled up! My parents also decided to meet us up there so we decided to stay in a 2 bedroom cabin (which, by the way, had a full kitchen and 2 bathrooms, one with a Jacuzzi tub) instead of staying in the main lodge of the resort which are all hotel rooms. We were really thankful that we did that because Karsten was not handling the change of scenery very well in terms of sleeping. The best he slept while we were there he woke up twice during the night....the worst being about 4 times and he DID NOT like the pack and play. We did all of the touristy stuff there is to do up there with my parents and just did a lot of hanging out and making fires and S'mores. There was a little bear table that Karsten liked and a few fish hanging on the wall that were really entertaining to him.


After we got back from there Karsten still was not sleeping well and on Sunday morning we found out why....another tooth decided to make its appearance! We had another couple of nights of him not sleeping well when we decided it was time to have to re-train him to sleep through the night. After having done that once we didn't want to have to go through that all over again but the first night was the worst - he cried for an hour before I decided I had enough and I just rocked him to sleep and then we woke up around 11pm and cried himself back to sleep. The second night he only protested for 15 minutes and last night not at all. He was being a little more fussy tonight but that's because he fell asleep on the couch next to me and I had to wake him up to put him to bed. Now that his night time is fixed again we have to work on daytime napping which this kid refuses to do. On a good day he'll get one maybe one hour nap otherwise he'll have 3-4 half hour naps and I think that's why he is so cranky all the time because he doesn't get enough sleep. He also refuses to sleep in his crib for his naps. He could be totally out of it and you lay him down in his crib and he is wide awake. He'll fall asleep anywhere for his naps except the one place he should as proven by this picture (Brice had him laid on our bed and wrapped in the sheets and he fell asleep while I believe, laundry was being done).

So this next week we have to do some nap training. We need to get him on a schedule and to nap in his crib. I did a little this afternoon which actually went ok. He was yawning and rubbing his eyes and being really grumpy but he would not fall asleep. I took him up into his room and read to him for a little while and he started getting real quiet and staring off into space. I laid him in his crib, gave him a couple of toys to play with and walked away. It was peaceful for about a minute and the cry-fest began. He was crying for attention for about a half an hour and all of a sudden....silence. The end result was:

I'll have to do that again tomorrow and see if I can get him to do a whole day of napping in his crib. Hopefully he won't protest too much!

Karsten is also getting really close to sitting up by himself. All I have to do is sit him on the floor with a pillow behind him and he can sit up and topple over as much as he wants (which isn't much anymore) and play all by himself (which is never very long because for some odd reason he just CRAVES attention).


Since Brice is working tonight and there has been NOTHING on tv lately, I went to Blockbuster this afternoon and stocked up on movies (Atonement, Enchanted, Dedication and Sweeney Todd). Of course the only time I can watch them is after Karsten falls asleep which I am ok with because I still get some me time in. I can go to bed late and still get in a good 7 hours of sleep before he wakes up in the morning (about 7am).

I do have some other thoughts to post but since this one is getting so long I think I will just close and post again tomorrow. I do have to say though - I LOVE the 10+ inches of snow that we got (I'm being facetious of course). What is up with all of the weather guys in this city predicting us to get monstrous amounts of snow in the last 4 storms that have gone through but ended up with next to nothing????? All I have to say is that this 50 degree weather they are predicting for this next week actually happens - winter has been long enough this year!