And it's January...

Well I don't even know if this blog has any readers anymore (besides my mom-- HI MOM!) but I am going to try to write more regularly again.  Having a baby really put me into survival mode for a year and I feel like I am just starting to come out of the fog. The usual steamroller that is back to school and then the holiday insanity is amplified by dealing with a very mobile and destructive curious toddler.  Add in the fact that my caseload this year at school is especially large, more responsibilities that used to the job of other people has now been shifted onto the special ed teacher and it left little time for blogging.  Or vacuuming. Or sending our Christmas cards. Or sleep.

Many bloggers start off the new year with a look at last year and a post detailing new resolutions.   I have my long terms goals listed as a document on my blog.  It is finally the last year for them, with the deadline being October of this year.  I am going to keep working away at those.  As far as other goals, I need to be more organized in general (really, that is the overarching theme/struggle of my life) and to make better use of our family together time.  Ryan has just started a new job which should allow us a little more financial breathing room and also the luxury of a fixed schedule.  Knowing his schedule ahead of time will hopefully allow us to plan more family experiences and see more of his kids.  Working opposite shifts has it's pros (he is home with Hannah during the day) and cons (we never see each other, I have to handle all of the evening chaos alone).  While that won't be changing, knowing Ryan's schedule for the whole entire year will really help us make the most of the times we are both home.

Aside from being more organized and planning more family time, another goal is sort of get back to myself. Being pregnant and then being broke for a year, it has been a while since I bought any new clothes, or really, anything that wasn't an absolute necessity.  I want to figure out my sense of style as a 30 something adult-- something beyond my uniform of black trousers and button downs for work and yoga pants and scoop neck t-shirts for home.  I got a compliment the other day on a coat, and I realized that I have had that coat since college, which was over ten years ago.  It must be that my clothes are so old they are coming back into style. Same for my hairstyle/color, the same since high school.  It's time for an update.

Another goal of mine is to find more time to reconnect with things I love doing.  It worked out over winter break for me to get out to a cardmaking workshop, something I used to do regularly but haven't done much the past two years.  I had such a nice time and it made me feel bad about all of the stamps and craft supplies that sit dormant and unloved in my living room closet. I would really like to carve out a little bit of time every other month or so, to get out to a workshop or get together with friends and allow myself to be creative again.

In the same vein, I also want to get off my phone and pick up more books.  I used to read almost every night before bed and now sit in the dark refreshing Facebook and playing Trivia Crack.  I have been slogging through Wally Lamb's beast of a book I Know This Much is True.  While I am enjoying it, is nearly 900 pages of heavy, emotional drama.  I have come too far to quit, but I may alternate reading it with something a little more light and fluffy.

Over Christmas break Ryan and I watched It's a Wonderful Life.  I had never seen it before, but it is one of Ryan's favorite movies ever.  I felt so bad for poor George, but I like it.  It was also one of the things on my 101 in 1001 goal list.

Hannah is 1!

Well, once again I am pretty late with this update. My sweet Hannah Marie turned one the day after Christmas. She seems so grown up all of a sudden. Somehow she is not a baby anymore and is a vibrant, silly toddler, full of personality. 

Eating
Hannah continues to be a great eater. She likes almost everything although she has moments where she will randomly refuse foods that she has always enjoyed. She wants to be independent with eating and this creates a huge mess about three feet in diameter around her high chair. For the most part she is done with "baby" foods and will eat whatever the rest of us are eating. She still only has the six front teeth but she does really well chewing her food. Recent favorites include spaghetti, potato wedges, warm chocolate chip cookies, blueberries, peaches, and biscuits. She is also done with formula and is drinking whole milk now. Unlike her brother, she doesn't seem to have any trouble with it.   She is using a sippy cup with a straw and doing great with it. 

Sleeping
Sleeping is still hit or miss.  She would very much prefer to cosleep between me and Ryan but after some tough nights redoing sleep training she has resigned herself to the routine of sleeping in her crib.  She will not always sleep through the night but is usually able to settle herself as long as she can find a pacifer in the middle of the night. 

She can't seem to decide if she wants to take one nap or two naps.  Some days she will only take a morning nap and then she is sooo exhausted by the time 6:30 rolls around (which, some nights, is right when we need to leave for basketball).  She also has done a 3:30/4:00 nap a few days, which I don't like either.  I have to wake her up or I am worried she will never be tired at night.


Likes

• Elmo, especially the Elmo toy someone gave us that strums a guitar and sings about being a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. 
• Dancing.  This girl LOVES to move and shake anytime she hears music. 
• Isaac.  Seriously, she loves Isaac.
• Playing peekaboo. 
• Getting into random things.   She can spend 20 minutes unloading my nightstand drawer.  She loves to put socks in and out of laundry baskets.  She loves to open cubboards and see what is inside.
• Remote controls, cell phones, pressing buttons on the TV and cable box.
• Books.  She will ask to read the same board books over and over.

Communication/Words
She very clearly says no, whenever she hears anyone ask a question, whether it is directed to her or not, she will shout out "No!"  That is really only consistent word at this point, but she has come up with all different ways to let us know what she needs.  She will stand under the cabinet where I store snacks and point and scream at it.  She will let us know when she is done eating by ripping off her bib.  She waves "bye bye" independently and will also blow kisses.  She is pointing more consistently to things and if there is something she wants us to take notice of she will even take our face and turn it to see whatever it is she is looking at.  She can identify her feet pretty consistently and her tummy and nose somewhat consistently. 

Dislikes

• Being contained during Isaac's activities.  She wants to run out onto the basketball court or soccer field and get in the action.  She also claps whenever there is applause which is so adorable.
• Having her face cleaned off or nose wiped.
• Bathing, although  I did get in the tub with her and she did allow that as long as she only sat on my legs and never on the tub floor.
• Transitions/being left with a sitter.  She is still in the middle of intense separation anxiety and good byes are almost always tearful.
• Wearing socks and shoes.
• Strangers, especially unfamiliar men.

Milestones

• First Thanksgiving.
• First Christmas!
• Stayed up till midnight on New Year's Eve.
• Finally warmed up to grandpa and allowed him to interact and hold her during Christmas.
• First birthday!
• Runs, climbs and tries to kick a ball.

• Wears size 4 diapers, size 12 and some size 18 month clothes.  I think she is in the 700th percentile for hair.
• She will give very big, wet, aggressive kisses.  Sometimes they are spontaneous and sometimes by request.

We love you so much little Hannah Marie!

November Updates

Hannah

Hannah has been pretty cranky the past week or so.  I am convinced she has an ear infection, but the past two times I thought that her ears were clear, so who knows.  She was supposed to go to the doctor yesterday for her flu shots, but my poor over crammed brain scheduled the appointment at the same time I am working for parent teacher conferences.  Hannah is on a dancing kick.  Anytime she hears music she starts grooving.  It is pretty adorable.  She is still a mess at night and it is driving me and Ryan crazy. 

Isaac

I had Isaac's conference last week, which I always look forward to.  I really like his teacher this year.  She is very experienced, which I think is just what he needs.  I was thrilled to hear that he continues to excel in math and reading.  She reported that he "loves to read" which is really, all I could ever hope for as a mom/teacher.  Ryan and Hannah went and had breakfast with him one morning at Fruit with Fathers.  Soccer season is over and basketball and winter soccer haven't started yet so it has been nice for Isaac to have some time to play with friends and not have to  be shuttled from one place to the next, to the next.

Lisa
The school I work at has been renovated for the last year.  We have been working out of another elementary building. They decided to reopen the renovated buidling in time for the second marking period.  It took a ton of time packing everything up, moving things I was too afraid to have the movers touch and then unpacking and organizing everthing in the new building.  Isaac even helped out (and so did Hannah... sort of...) My new classroom is about twice the size of my old one with huge windows and lots of storage space.  I'm also located much closer to my co-teachers which is nice.  I think I walked about five miles in a day back and forth from all of the rooms, picking up kids and bringing them back. 

November is also my birthday.  We celebrated with a dinner out with my parents at Olive Garden.  It was a bit of a late night for Hannah, and she is getting to that age where it is more difficult to take her out to a restaraunt,.  She spent the evening throwing things on the ground, smashing things in her hair and fussing.  Despite all that, I really enjoyed myself.  I guess my standards for "fun night out" have reached an all time low, if it is a meal I don't have to pay for or cook, I'm good.  My parents got me a bench for my entryway.  I have been talking about getting a bench exactly like that one since I bought the house, so it really was a great gift. 

Other news for me is I am picking up some holiday hours as a seasonal employee at Target.  I have forgotten the  *joys* of working retail around the holidays, but it is actually not a bad job.  Usually my job is to float around the sales floor straightening clothes and racks.  I did cashier one night, which was an adventure, when a guy's foodstamps wouldn't go through and he through a huge temper tantrum about it.   Working evenings has added some stress a few nights when my shifts have overlapped with Ryan, but it is nice to have a little extra cash around the holidays.  I won't lie though, I will be glad when December is over and I am through.  Always being on the run is hard.

Ryan
Ryan has accepted a new job at Comcast.  He won't start till after Christmas, but is looking forward to a much shorter commute and a more predictable schedule which will allow him to be home with Hannah for most of the day.

Hannah 10ish Month Update

I have thought a lot about blogging over the past month, but I don't even know what to get in and write. Life has been very good, but very busy.  At any rate, our little sweetheart is ten months old.  Here is the update on her.

Eating

Hannah continues to be a great eater.  She is not at all picky and will eat pretty much whatever is offered to her.  She has recently entered a very stubborn phase though where she does not want you to feed her, she wants to feed herself, hold the spoon, etc. I love the independence but it makes for some massive clean ups.  The aftermath of last night's dinner is pictured above/below.

She is eating more and more table food.  Yesterday Isaac was eating a chicken sandwich and she stole the whole top to the bun right off his plate and stuffed it into her mouth as fast as she could. And is not too interested in baby food.   I love that she is such an easy eater.

Sleeping



Sleeping could be better.  We have not been as consistent as we should have been with nighttime routine and it is taking it's toll on her sleeping through the night.  Hannah has decided she really prefers cosleeping to be alone in her crib and she will wail and wail until one of relents and lets her sleep with us.  Over the summer she would give up crying after a few minutes which wasn'too bad but now she will carrying on for 30 minutes which is hard on all of us.  It's bad and I am will probably have to do an intervention again soon, but I am waiting until teeth are cut and she gets over the nasty cold she has had for the past week or so.She is getting quite spoiled but it's hard to resist.  Both Ryan and I find ourselves savoring these moments with our last baby.

 

Likes:

• Dancing.  She will go into the middle of the room and bounce around when she hears a commercial with music. 
• Isaac.
• Daddy.  Her interest in Daddy is bordering on obsession.  She can't get enough of Ryan.
• Phones and electronics.  If you have it in your hand, she wants it in hers.  She tried to rip an iPad out of a man's lap at church this past Sunday.

Dislikes:

• Strangers or thinking she is alone.  At church she will sometimes walk away from me and then cry because she doesn't know where I am.
• Anything personal hygiene related, especially wiping her nose and washing her hair.
• Loud noises.

Milestones:

• She says "no" now and shakes her head.
• She also says "Wow!" and "Whoa!" but never on demand.
• She can squat down. 
• She is showing that she understands what things are for.  When she sees her comb she will hold it up to her hair.  When she sees a toy phone she will hold it up to her ear (and sometimes will even say "Hi").

Hannah's 9 month Update

Holy 9 months Hannah!  It is weird to think that you have been out of me as long as you have been in me.  It's hard to imagine a time when this silly baby wasn't a part of our family.   She is the light of our lives.

Eating

Hannah is still a fan of eating and pretty much all foods. Typical meals include instant packages of grits, cheerios, toast, baby yogurt, and fruit cups from Chik Fila (grandma gives her the hook up).  If you are eating in front of her she considers your food to be fair game.  

Sleeping

Hannah has been keeping up her streak of great sleeping with one blip when she had a terrible head cold.  Sometimes she wakes up early and moves to our bed to for another hour or so of sleep.  Other mornings she sleeps late and wakes up happy in her own bed.  The worst are the mornings when Ryan works early and I have to wake her up to get her off to the babysitter.  She hates when I wake her up.  She is napping better at the baby sitter's too.  She is consistently taking a good morning nap but her afternoon naps are iffy. Some days she will sleep for a half hour or less, some days not at all.  Her bedtime ranges between 7-8. 

Likes

• Wrestling.  She loves to tackle and wrestle around with Isaac and Ryan.
• Dancing.  She has pretty good rhythm too.
• Pacifers.  I am not sure how I will ever take them away from her.
• Isaac.  She wants to be around him all of the time.  

Communication and words

She is babbling a lot and will often say "mama" although it doesn't mean me. Sometimes it means "more" and sometimes it is just babbling.  I feel like her receptive language has grown by leaps and bounds.  The other day I left the room and she crawled after me.  Ryan asked her to stop and she did and then she held her hand out towards the room I went to.  It was like she was explaining to him, "but I want to go with mom."  

Dislikes

• Being flat on her back.
• Holding still for diaper changes.  She is too busy!
• Being bored.
• Being contained.  Now that she can walk she has no interest in her jumparoo or excersaucer.  I have to make sure to buckle the straps on the shopping cart and stroller or she will try to stand up.  More often than not there are tears when she has to get in the carseat too.
• Anything related to personal hygiene.  Including: having her nose wiped, brushing her hair, taking a bath.

Milestones

• This girl is officially walking!  She is still a little wobbly but getting steadier every day.  

• First taste of Halloween festivities.  Isaac had a soccer game only a few minutes away from Dorney Park so we stopped there for their Halloween festivities.  First petting zoo, first pumpkin.
• Hannah mastered clapping over the summer but she does it appropriately during Isaac's soccer games and it is so sweet!
• Hannah will give kisses now.  They are very long kisses though (like 20 plus seconds) and a bit on the slobbery side with her mouth wide open. 
• She has a top tooth now, in addition to the two on the bottom.  It is a side incisor which looks a bit funny.  I call it her fang but Ryan hates when I say that.
• She is rocking 9 month clothes and some 12 month clothes, especially 1 piece pajamas.  She is in size 4 diapers.

Hannah Marie, you are the cutest nine month old there ever was!

Steamrolled by September

My last blog post was labeled "Goodbye August" and at this point I feel like this one should almost be labeled "Goodbye September".  September tends to steamroller me, but I have been trying to stay organized, stay on top of things and establish routines and this has probably been one of my better Septembers as a result.  I made a list of mini goals I want to accomplish.  Little things, like going to yoga two times in September and decorating the house for Halloween.  It is nice to have a list I can reach for when I have a few moments to really accomplish something, rather than just zone out in front of a screen.   One of my goals is to blog weekly which has been a challenge.  But here are a few updates. 

Isaac is in fourth(!!!) grade this year and is really showing a lot of maturity.  He is only going to the YMCA in the morning now.  In the afternoon he takes the bus home and lets himself in.  He has about 30 minutes until I come home with Hannah.  He has been really responsible with using that time until I come home to knock out his homework.  Part of his homework is always to read 30 minutes.  He has really stayed on top of that well without a  lot of nagging from me which I appreciate.   We recieved his PSSA scores in the mail and I was proud to see that he is advanced in math.  He is continuing with the viola and this year has started the trombone.  We are also fully in the swing of travel soccer.  His league this year includes teams in Delaware and Maryland, so it really is a lot of traveling.   It is a lot to keep track of but I am impressed with how well he can handle it. 

We made it out to my parent's house for dinner last weekend (another mini goal for September).  Isaac has been asking and asking so we squeezed a dinner trip out there on a busy weekend.  Isaac loves the basketball hoop there and even took some time to play with Hannah.  These pictures from that day have becomes favorites.  You can really just see how sweet he is to her. 

 

 

Hannah is still the light of my life.  She is trying and trying to walk and is getting better everyday. She loves to give herself applause for her efforts and then she knocks herself off balance and falls over.   She also loves to dance and will do so any time she hears music, even the organ playing the hymn at church gets her moving.  She is becoming really destructive curious.  She loves to tear apart Ryan's magazines and drop all kind of objects between the slats in our head boards.   Any open drawer is fair game for her to start unloading clothes.  She grabbed my tablet the other day and I discovered that she friend requested all kinds of people on facebook including my principal... awkward...

It is starting to feel like fall here finally.  A busy time of year for us but also my favorite time.

Goodbye August

We are trying desperately to grasp onto the final remnants of summer as the start of the school year gets closer and closer.  It has really been a lovely summer, the perfect balance of being busy with projects and activities and long stretches of unscheduled play time with the kids.  I didn't teacher summer school or write summer ieps and it felt like a true break from the stresses of school.  Despite my denial, the school year is looming overhead.  I already had to go in three days last week and do a back to school night.  We get tomorrow and then Tuesday we all go back, ready or not.

It has already been a rocky start to the school year.  I am in a bit of conflict with the district over my laptop, so I have limited access to technology.  We were supposed to be unpacking boxes and moving into a newly renovated school but construction is behind so we were forced to unpack the same boxes we packed up at the end of last year in the same temporary school we have been using.  I am keeping almost my same caseload as last year, which has it's advantages, but has contributed to my apathy about getting ready for the new year.

We have finally called it quits on our Cub Scout efforts.  Ryan and I have been holding up our struggling little pack for over a year now.  We are down to only 1 other boy besides Isaac who also is able to come consistently and he is about to start sports.  It isn't very fun for anyone to rush home from work, slap dinner on the table and then drag the baby over to the church only to find that Isaac is stuck doing an activity alone with me.   We are going to give our neighborhood Cub group a try.  That didn't go over that well with the primary president.  I hate how things like "convenience" and "fun" are viewed as frivolous considerations in the context of church life.

Another change this school year is Hannah will be going to a new babysitter.  Grandma and Ryan will still be helping out, but she will also be spending time with Asher a baby friend from church several days a week.  It will be a big change but I know she will do well.  She is getting another tooth on the bottom which has made her rather miserable the past few days.  It hasn't stopped her from attempting to climb stairs every time I turn my back on her.

(Notice the TWO unused baby gates in the background?  Parenting fail).  Today I went to move the laundry along and when I came back she was standing on the fourth step up, all proud of herself.  Someone in our neighborhood was throwing out a gate today, so we have three now (all trashpicked, cause we're classy like that)  which is sufficient to block all of our stairways.  Now we just need to remember to actually put them up.

In other news I am finally getting the hang of couponing.  I have attempted coupons a few times in the past but could never really make it work.  But now I am starting to understand it better and I am really seeing the results in my wallet. It is almost like a high watching her scan the coupons and seeing the total go down, down, down.  I am far from being an extreme couponer but I am definitely enjoying it.   Here are some recent trips:

Paid $2 @ CVS

Free @ CVS

$17 @ Giant (total before coupons/savings $40).

I also had a great trip to Target where I got $23 dollars worth of diapers and formula for $3 out of pocket.  It is fun to have a hobby that actually saves money and even Isaac is getting into it.  There other day we were at a store and passed one of the coupon machines in the aisle and he was like, "Look mom!  Coupons!"

That's about it for us.  HAPPY MONDAY!