Summer Updates

1. We're going to sign Em up for private swimming lessons soon (I know, summer is 2/3 over!) in an effort to get her swimming independently. Group lessons just haven't cut it.

2. Liam caught his first cold, courtesy of big sister, who had it last week. *sigh* There is nothing very effective you can do for such little guys when they are sick. Good news is Em is finally old enough to get cold meds!

3. I'm trying to figure out the nusing/pumping schedule for when I go back to work in a week. I have a general idea of how this will work, but it all really depends upon the sleep schedule Liam settles into. He's been sleeping in his crib for the past week, and that's working well. He usually gets his last bottle around 9p and then wakes up once around 2-3am (although this morning was 430!!) I'll breastfeed around 6-630 when he wakes up again.

4. We are in a quandry about childcare come August. Liam's daycare spot doesn't open up until the end of the month. Judy is coming the 2nd week of August, but otherwise, it's probably going to be a lot of working from home/taking Liam to work for Keith and me. Hoping our neighborhood sitter can cover a few days before she goes back to school. This is making my transition back to work mighty stressful!

5. We had a successful trip to Myrtle Beach last week. We stayed at a Hampton Inn, which was nice in that 1) it was oceanfront & had 9 pools 2) free breakfast 3) fridge in the room for breastmilk & lunch items 4) seafood for dinner nightly 5) met up with an old from of Keith's from Tipton & her family for dinner one night 6) Mama got to take a long walk on the beach alone (well, almost alone...had a sleeping baby in the Bjorn)

6. We are in the process of refinancing our mortgage, and getting a *really* low interest rate. It will knock off several hundred dollars per month on the bill, save us thousands in interest, and we'll pay the house off faster. A win-win-win! (Thanks to Keith for researching & executing!)

7. We're trying to get back into some of our family routines (Saturday library trips, etc), as the past 3 months of complete chaos has really thrown Em for a loop. Behavior is turning ugly, and we need to get her back on track. Kids really do thrive on routine and having some predictability to their lives!

8. Em came out the bathroom the other night and told me a kid at school shoved a piece of candle up her nose. That seemed a bit odd. I asked her who did it, and she said she couldn't remember. We have a candle in the bathroom, so I asked her if she just shoved a candle piece up her nose, and that I wouldn't be mad if she did. So, she fessed up and we spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get the darn thing out. When I asked her why she did it, she said she wanted to smell it, and "it got to close". We had a nice chat about not putting anything up our nose again. *sigh*

9. I've been consigning & donating maternity clothes, kid stuff and am feeling the need to purge! Perhaps this is due to the large amount of baby STUFF that's all over the house these days.

10. The big to-do list I had to get accomplished during my maternity leave is mostly sitting undone. Drat! I can say that my boy has doubled his birth weight in 10 weeks and grown about 4 inches in length, so I guess I got something done!