Vote for G!!

Today G was chosen by the editors of thebump.com and shutterfly.com as one of the top five finalists out of more than 600 in the baby's first smile contest. You can go here and see the finalists and vote. I am so proud of my baby! I always knew she was cute :-)

VACATION and SNOW?!

Hooray for vacation! Vacation began yesterday for us and in true fashion, we kept plenty busy. It was nice to spend the whole day with DD and I hadn't realized just how many things she's learned until I spent the whole day with her. Sure I've seen her doing baby pushups and starting to grab and pass things back and forth between her hands, but I was able to fully appreciate it yesterday. I truly cannot get over how amazed I am with her- it doesn't help that other people are as well....

Looking forward to a fun week with lots of walks, and play time we woke up this morning to SNOW on the ground. Yes, I DO live in Maine but it's APRIL for goodness sakes, and AFTER TAX DAY!! What IS mother nature thinking?? Just last sunday DH was wearing shorts and now we have to get out the hat and mittens again? Thankfully it looks like it will melt pretty quickly but so much for our walk this morning, maybe we will have to go walking at the mall.... and perhaps stop by Babies R Us and get the food processor I want. DD is going to try solids on Sunday, her 5 month birthday!! :-)

Terrific Tuesday!

I haven't done a Terrific Tuesday post in quite awhile but today is so terrific, how can I not?!

Well for one thing, it's the 13th of the month- notoriously our lucky day. I had a personal day, got done my typing for a major paper, got the paper mailed, ran errands I've had to do for quite some time. After that I was able to pick up the baby early, we went and got her birth certificate, played some games. Now she's snoozing a little. Tonight DH has a friend coming over to play, the plan is baby down for bed at 7:30, then off to get Thai food for LOST and tonight is a HURLEY episode!! I've been waiting for this one since the start of the season.

Can Tuesday really get more terrific than this?? Oh yeah, and 2 more days of work before V*A*C*A*T*I*O*N!!

Daycare Vent

First I want to begin by saying I LOVE G's daycare. They are so sweet there. Take excellent care of here, are always happy to talk with me when I call and indulge me when I am worried about something even if it is a sniffle. I couldn't be happier.... well that's not 100% true because then I wouldn't have a vent but I promise this is it.

I am a teacher. We have a few more vacations than the average joe. It's the perfect mom job. Well during our interview I *thought* I heard the lady say, you do have to pay us for school vacations but we expect you to keep her home. I thought, no big deal, I DO intend to keep her home, I might send her one day a vacation so I can get some things done but ABSOLUTELY I want to keep her home. Well we have vacation next week and I have an appointment Thursday.... I have asked every week for the last month if they could tell me a day she could attend so I could schedule this. I hadn't heard so I just did it. Today I mentioned it again and they were wishy-washy again. I understand they let their afterschool kids come all day over break so their numbers are higher, but I am still paying for a full time slot and I can't even send her for 4 hours 1 day?!

DH and I talked about it and we view it like this... if we choose not to send her, then ABSOLUTELY we owe them money. No worries about that, but if they refuse to take her for an entire week do we really have to pay? I get their vacations 2 weeks a year, fine but it feels like I am being taken advantage of because I am a teacher. I already suffer with long hours and low pay, no budget, and this year no raise since we are in a contract issue and now I have to pay additional vacation weeks and I cannot send her?

I love them. I REALLY do. They take fab care of G but today I'm a little miffed about money. I see it from their pov but still. Am I totally off my rocker??

Sad mommy moment

Today was a sad mommy moment for me.... well mixed emotions but sad at the same time.

I can't get over how quickly my little girl is growing. It seems each day we hit a new milestone and have such little time to enjoy each precious moment. It's no secret that I was upset about having to go back and finish out the school year this year... but I had to, for our family. As you know G is on her second daycare and we LOVE it!! They are FABULOUS and take excellent care of her, and me! :-)

Well today I went to drop her off. Took her out of the infant seat and went to give her a hug and kiss bye and she started to whimper. Then M, her favorite caregiver came over and G rewarded her with a FAB smile. I was dissapointed but I leaned in to give her one last hug before handing her off and G leaned towards M with a HUGE smile on her face. IT was all I could do to not burst into tears. M smiled kindly and said "she's really happy here." I am glad she's so happy, I just thought I might have a little time before she was happy to go with other people instead of staying with me all the time. It was a sad mommy moment.

Of course tonight though G and I have had a terrific evening. We've played, laughed and cuddled and I am glad that she's in such good care when I cannot be there. Tomorrow I will be prepared when she shows daycare just how much she loves them, even if she forgets to show me how much she loves me.

Holidays Are Tough

Especially when you're married, and even more so when you have a baby. When DH and I first started dating, were engaged, and finally married, we ran ourselves ragged each holiday. We'd need to see my family, his mom, his dad, and quite often his memere. Those are 4 different stops. After we had 4 Thanksgivings one year I gave up.

We began hosting or scheduling family and last year, when we were pregnant, it was a lot easier (except Easter because DH threw a tantrum but other than that...). Now with the baby it's gotten near impossible. With all the invitations it's hard to say no, you cannot see your grandchild, cousin, niece, great-niece etc for a major holiday.

Right now DH is getting ready, G and I are sitting on the couch waiting for the loooong day ahead to begin. I do intend to put my foot down after this madness today is done and work out a schedule about how everyone can enjoy the baby but we can continue to keep our sanity.

Happy Easter!

A Day Off!

Today I have a day off from school which means I get to do my favorite job... being a mommy!!! My little boss had me begin at 5am but I loved it! We got to spend the whole day together, just she and I...

First we picked up the house, she snoozed while I finished, then off to get some Easter pictures done. We were meant to run errands but that didn't happen... instead we went to visit aunt K for lunch! Back home after lunch to clean some more; we are trying to sell our home and we have a showing tomorrow. :-)

The day ended with daddy coming home, dinner and bed. There really is no better job than being little G's mommy. And at 4 1/2 months it is SO much fun!!