The Laumoorittskers

Doesn't this look like a fun and fabulous group? Membership is severely limited, and since the youngest sister got married this past summer, any future members will have to be born in.

My husband went deer hunting

and all he brought home was this poor, dumped off, starving puppy...


=
+

There he was, shivering and all hunkered down in the ditch. Once my eagle-eyed husband had seen him and realized that puppy was alive, he couldn't leave him there.

The vet says that he doesn't have ANY health problems, except that he's hungry and has some fleas that are presently being eradicated (yuk!) and that he's very smart and has huge paws.

Anyone know anyone that wants a dog? If he's not gone by the end of the weekend, I'll be forced to keep him and his name will be Linus.

Photographic Treats ... or Callie and the Crazy Church Ladies

This is Gloria and Tracie. Gloria had unwavering Faith (when I did NOT) that Callie would, in fact, be born all safe and sound and healthy and strong. When I was 4 1/2 weeks pregnant, she "claimed this baby in the name of Jesus" and would not hear of any fears that anything would happen to her.
Lori and Leslie. Those crazy ladies will do anything to see a baby smile... :)

...and it usually works!

I keep not getting a picture of Wendy, so this will have to do.

Holding her head up sooo well!
napping with Lucy

and too cool for school in our Bumbo and polkadots.

For the Record

I started to type a comment in response to an Anonymous comment to my last post about going back to work, and then I thought I'd just post instead.

"anybody can stay home if they choose, it's just a matter of choosing between your priorities ... I hope you're able to double check the math and consider giving up a few of your luxuries if you really want to stay home with your new baby. It's just a matter of making a few choices of what's most important to you!"

We have done the math. We have considered the expenses that would go away if I weren't working. We have looked at downsizing vehicles. We have looked at selling our home. Remember, I've been home for almost four months, most of it unpaid leave. What we came up with is that, even with trimming all the fat that we can stand, it is simply not feasible for me to stay at home. We would still need to come up with several hundred dollars a month. Wes could do it with side work, but I need to see my husband, Callie needs to see her father, and Wes needs time to relax. I'm not willing for him to spend all of his time working so that I can stay at home. I don't feel that it's fair to him or to me. He didn't sign up to spend all his time working and I didn't sign up to be a single parent.

So if the "luxury" that I'd be giving up is my husband's happiness, sanity, or availability as a father and partner, I'm just not willing to do it. If the choice is him working his 8-10 hours a day PLUS mine, I'm not willing to ask him to do it. If the choice is eeking by and not being able to build up savings or enjoy our family, I'm not willing to do it.

In a few years, I may be able to stay home. I hope so. But right now, we have made the choices of what's most important to us.


And I reserve the right to think that sometimes it is an easier pill to swallow than others. It's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

Back to Work

I got an email from my boss, asking me to come back on Monday. In the interest of a paycheck to take some of the load off of my wonderful Husband, I am.

I'm not ready. But then, I don't think that I ever would be. I've pretty much been home for 3 1/2 months. I've gotten into a routine. I've never really wanted to be a working mom. I think it sucks that I have to be. But I do, and I know that.

Wes asked if it would have been easier on me (emotionally) to go back when Callie was six weeks old - back then, she was pretty much sleeping all day. I wouldn't have known that 10 am and 2 pm are Happy Times, I'd only know about the 6 am and 5 pm ones.

I don't know - is that how other working moms survive? If you don't know what you're missing, you don't miss it so much? Maybe their hearts are breaking just as much as mine is and they just hide it better. Maybe I'll adjust and Callie will be just fine.

Hilarity

Elf Youself is back!

I can't tell you how many hours of laugh-till-the-tears-are-running-down-your-cheeks entertainment this little gizmo provided me last year. Someone that I know made one of the Senior Management Team at our company and I thought I would pee myself.

make your own:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/

I particularly like the screen that says "Adjust Your Head".

See below for my family - dancing away!

Hilarity in the barn

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Rollercoaster Day of Firsts

Callie had her 2 month check-up today.

She's 10 lbs, 12 ozs, and 23 inches long. 50th percentile for both.

She also had vaccines. Four of them. One that she drank, the other three were shots. Smart Dr Simon made ME feed her the one that she drank (and spit half of it out) and the "girls" give her the actual shots. Callie cried a very heartbreaking New Cry, but seemed to calm down. (I gave her some Tylenol 30 minutes before we went.)
We got home, nursed, and conked out.

After about an hour, I could hear her on the moniter, fussing a little. I waited for a minute, because she usually puts herself back to sleep. Then, her fussing started to sound like playing, so I went to investigate.

My baby girl had ROLLED OVER and was laying on her back, just kicking and cooing and playing away!

So, we got up, played a little, ate some more, fell back asleep.

This is the point that, were I a Good Mom, I would have given her more Tylenol.

She woke up again at 3:30. Not slowly, like normal, this was all of a sudden and she had a Whole New Cry/Scream. She was inconsolable for a good 25 or 30 minutes, before I managed to get another dose of Tylenol into her. She then cried/screamed/sobbed for the longest 15 minutes of my whole life before she settled enough to nurse. (Is there anything more heartbreaking than a baby screaming as if in pain while nursing?)

She's asleep now, just a little sob every now and then, eyes squeezed shut and hanging on to my shirt for dear life.

I think that I don't like Shots Day.
Except that my baby rolled over all by herself. Let's end on that. :)

Christmas Shopping

Is it super ridiculous that Wes and I are going Christmas shopping tomorrow? What about that we have a list and plan to be Finished by mid-afternoon?

I thought so.

We won't put the tree up until Christmas Eve, I promise. We have THREE Christmas trees and I don't know where any of them are. I also don't know where any of the decorations are. Well, except for the handful that we got for Christmas last year (mid-move)....

Comments

I just realized that I had the permissions for comments set to where you have to have a blogger or open id log in to comment. I didn't mean it. It's fixed now, and anyone can comment.
Callie's Aunties - this means you. :)

Babysitters

Callie and I went to visit her babysitters yesterday. I keep putting it off, but I ran out of excuses yesterday afternoon. Tommy and Betty go to our church. They keep two little boys, ages 2 and 4, who seem to love them. They don't believe in letting babies cry. I know that they will love her and that she will love them. Mama's just having a hard time letting go.
sigh.

Moore Look-alike Meter

Whatever. She looks like Wes wa-a-ay more than she looks like me. But I think that the meter is a cool idea.

She can put herself to sleep!!!

This morning, Callie was really fussy, so I layed her on her tummy on a blanket on our bed to play while I was switching some laundry around. In about 2 minutes, she was asleep. (Thinking it was a fluke) I went ahead and finished what I was doing. She was still sleeping, so I went ahead and got myself ready to leave. (Visit to the chiropractor - yay!) She was STILL SLEEPING half an hour later, so I picked her up to put her in her carseat to leave. My wonderful baby did not wake up - not for the transition to the carseat, not when I put her in the car, not when we walked into the chirpractic office. In fact, I had a 10 minute treatment and was about halfway through the second one when she finally stirred.

This may be the soundest sleeping since the End of the Milk Coma.

I put her in her crib (slightly awake, full belly, clean diaper) about 20 minutes ago for her afternoon nap and haven't heard anything out of her... (yes, she's asleep. I present as evidence the photo at the top of this post)

So I ask you experienced mamas: Do babies sleep more soundly if they put themselves to sleep?

Random Photographic Updates

Our Goddaughter, Maddie, was so-o-o-o proud of herself for getting to hold Callie.
Maddie's parents, Robbie and Shauna, will be two of Callie's Godparents.
Callie has recently discovered that there are lights and butterflies
up there in the top of her swing!

Two of Mama's aunts: Freida and Judith meeting Callie.

(Notice the orange OSU shirt that the baby is wearing.)

Halloween - Cousin Haley is dressed up as Raggedy Ann.
Her hat is sitting on the coffee table in the background...

11/1/08 - Callie's very first Ladies Bible Study! (DaVinci's. Saturdays. 7:30 am. Be there!)

Another Godmother, Leslie, is holding her.

Same bible study, this time, held by Lori. Callie really was happier than she looks!

And, here, Callie is making goo-goo eyes at my friend Dana.

Update

My friend Jenell delivered both babies this morning. One passed during delivery, the other lived for about two hours.

Lord, have mercy.