End of August?!

Time for an update.  A is asleep, Chris is watching a video that I've tried desperately to watch, and so now I'm going to blog a bit and add a few pictures from this past week.  Since it was the first week back at school Chris had a difficult week.  I dressed A up for him (since he always says that she is his daughter and needs to be dressed up) when I picked him up from the train one day.  She was "so stinkin' cute" that it made his day much better.  Yay, mission accomplished.  I think she looks like she was born in a different time, but that's just me.

Just hanging out on the floor

This weekend we had Chris's father in town.  We hung out and took pictures.  Since all of us like photography on some level it was nice.  It was nice getting to see family too.

After we dropped my father-in-law at the airport we went to the MSI.  We didn't see Body Worlds, but did check out the new Smart Home exhibit.  They redo the inside with new furniture and stuff each year.  The cool thing from this year is them re-using the University of Chicago lab cabinets in the kitchen. The parallel between laboratories and kitchens is not missed, so it couldn't have been more perfect.  Plus since they have glass doors, everyone can see inside!  We got to look in the gardens which were gorgeous today.  The weather was perfect, so that helped for sure.  There were butterflies everywhere so it was fun to try and catch them on camera.  I also managed to get some honeybees on camera.  :)  Here are a couple of pictures from the Smart Home gardens.

Besides for the Smart Home, we also saw the temporary exhibit, "Suiting up for Space" which is on loan from the Smithsonian.  One interesting thing I learned was about the suits, with how delicate they are! You would think that to keep a person alive in space they couldn't be delicate, but they only ever made on trip out of the atmosphere and the different layers of the space suit tend to react and deteriorate them.  Now, they can take x-rays of the suits so it is pretty neat to see the different suits x-rayed. Here is one such picture. 

This week holds work and playing with A for me.  We're definitely getting close to sitting up alone.  She has the turning over down -- both directions really.  She is frustrated about the not crawling, but to be honest, we aren't exactly encouraging her to be mobile quite yet.  She still likes to sleep on her side, so that takes a lot of balance and stuff.  Today she also started grabbing toys and putting them in her mouth.  This is fun since before she would only hold onto toys if you put them in her hand, now she will grab them.  It is a big step that is encouraging. 

Quilt Pictures thus far

All the fabrics laid out together

First bit of confetti and a bit of sewing the pieces together

making the central part of the quilt sqaure

one of the two square versions for the quilt!

The past two weeks have been quite busy.  We have settled into a routine during the day and have been able to accomplish a lot because of that.  We are still working on a night routine, though A doesn't help us in this regard as she is starting the teething process.  She doesn't actually have any teeth yet, but she's become a drool factory and will put anything in her mouth.  She is also really working on the crawling bit, but is having a lot of trouble with the arms part of the equation.  She will accept stuff if you put it in her hand, and is just starting to explore the things around her.  She is rolling over quite easily, though not always on purpose.  She doesn't cry or scream when she does it, just smiles a little.  She is smiling a lot overall, and we regularly get more smiles in a day than tears.  She thinks that daddy will respond to her tears so she will turn on the waterworks for him, but not for me.  She's just a bit over three months and she's already figured that out?! She's also working on sitting up alone and does really well with her boppy. 

The fall term started for Chris this past Monday.  So far it is definitely not his favorite year.  Saturday he had to work getting the lab they remodeled together enough to start class.  Currently his minions are not doing so hot and the TAs are driving him nuts.  We'll see how the term goes, but hopefully he'll get a new position (or I'll get one), and then we won't have to worry about it any more. 

While he worked on Saturday, A and I went to a friend's house and started quilting.  Since I can't find a position and have always wanted to make a quilt I've decided that I will make one for A.  I've got a lot of fun fabric (yay for remnants!) and have cut out about half of the squares.  I'm just working on the top part right now, and that isn't nearly as bad as I originally thought it might be.  Hopefully I'll get a job and have to put it on the back burner, but if not, then I'll have a quilt to show for my time.  Maybe I'll decide that I'd rather quilt than crochet or knit and start making baby quilts for people.  I'll put pictures up sometime soon of my progress.  I really hope to have it done by Thanksgiving, Christmas at the absolute latest. 

Other than the developmental stuff with A, stuff at UIC, and me with my quilt not a lot is going on right now.  We have Chris's father coming up this weekend so that should be exciting. 

I'm going to go though since everyone is asleep and I'm kind of tired myself.  Hopefully a quick shower will make me head right off to sleep once I lay down, we'll see though. 

Update to go with last batch of pictures

This past week has brought in August with a bang.  We were super concerned about Kelly, and she ended up getting a liver in the last moments last Wednesday.  She had surgery that night and then we went down to see the family on Friday.  A wasn't allowed up into the PICU room, so someone always had to stay downstairs to watch her.  We never seemed to run out of volunteers.  We also got to talk to a med student who got to watch the transplant surgery.  They ended up taking her off of the vent and waking her up on Saturday.  She moved out of PICU on Monday and they are talking about putting her in the Ronald McDonald House this week or next.  Everyone (docs, nurses, family, etc) is very amazed at how well she is doing this soon after surgery. 

Neither of us have heard back about from our interviews so we're assuming that we will not be getting the jobs.  This is unfortunate as both would have been good opportunities for us, but we'll get something eventually. 

A and I went to the zoo this week (as you can see in the pictures) and saw a lot of my old co-workers.  It was nice to visit the zoo, but not have to work.  They had no elephants which was interesting, but they had a ton of new babies around the zoo.  There were baby addax, kangaroos and gibbons.  They are doing a study with the gorillas, so I got to hear all the gorilla names and look at that one. 

On Sunday I went on a bike ride with my friend who does triathlons.  She and I only went about 15 miles.  We wanted to go further, but we saw an impending storm coming in, so we turned back early.  We were glad that we did because it was pouring by the time we got home.  It was raining so much that she kept my bike until Tuesday.  We are planning on going for another ride this Sunday.  We're planning on going about 25 miles, we'll see how it goes. 

A is working really hard on rolling over and pushing up with her arms.  She has the legs down for crawling and that's actually how she's managed to roll over a couple of times.  She will be on her stomach and moving her legs trying to get her feet underneath her, then she'll push with her leg and the same arm while trying to get her arms underneath her and end up rolling over.  She's also started sucking her thumb a bit.  She doesn't do it often, and she prefers to have her hand splayed out across her face when she does it.  She also continues to love her door jumper/swing.  She hangs out in that while I do laundry and other household stuff, and always seems content.  A also continues to work on sitting up.  I will put her in the boppy and let her do smaller crunches.  She scrunches up her face and gets part of the way up, but not all of the way up.  She is better at keeping herself aligned in her jumper and her bumbo, so we're getting somewhere. 

The other thing that A and I have been working on is getting stuff together to make a quilt.  I'd like to make something for my baby girl and a quilt of sorts seems like a good thing.  I've always wanted to try my hand at quilting, so we'll see how it turns out.  I've got some great fabrics that I got as remnants and a fun looking pattern, so we'll see how it goes.  Hopefully I can have something done by Christmas, it may be my Christmas present to her. I put her in her sling while we go and look at fabric and everyone is always amazed at her.  She is alert and up close to me, so everyone likes to comment on that fact as well.  We both like our little excursions out of the condo, especially since the weather has become nice again. 

Overall things are going well.  I'm looking at picking up a couple of courses at Westwood during the October term, so we'll see how that goes.  That's provided I don't have other means of employment.  But if I do that it would allow me to stay home with A during the day and then Chris would stay with her during the evenings that I teach.  It isn't my first choice, but it would be a way to keep from going completely crazy adjusting to this mommy role. 

Pictures, if not a post.

Here are some pictures from the past week or so.  I'll hopefully be able to come back and narrate a bit, but we'll see. 

OK Pictures from 2 weeks back

A with my father

My parents, me and A out for my b'day dinner

Right after bath time

Hanging out with Grandpa Jeff

My mom's cousin and A. He has a grandson essentially the same age with a very similar name.

Us on the plane after landing in Chicago.

A Busy Week Looms...

We are sitting here on a Sunday with a busy week ahead of us.  It is sure to be a busy week, we're just hopeful that everything turns out as we would like it.  We know that it will all turn out okay in the end, but there are things going on now that we'd really really like and having them turn out okay now would be helpful for both of us.

First and foremost is Chris's step-sister Kelly.  Kelly is 17 and on Friday went into liver failure.  She was flown from Little Rock to St Louis to have a liver transplant Friday night.  They have no idea what caused the failure and she is only deteriorating as time goes on.  She must have a liver by Tuesday or Wednesday according to the docs, and that's not far off.  We are only four hours from St Louis, so if we need to make a trip down there to be with her (or his mom and step father) we plan on it.  Chris has the time off from work if necessary, so we could even make a (long) day trip out of it if necessary. 

Next up, is a possible trip to Tennessee to interview for me.  I interviewed (and wrote a bit about it in my last blog) over the phone and haven't heard back yet.  The company wants to do interviews the first and second weeks of August, so I know that a trip there is coming up soon, provided I made the cut.  I'd really really like the job.  I haven't heard back about not getting it (and the interviewers promised to not leave me hanging) so we still have hope.  Depending on interview time we may have to stay overnight somewhere and Chris may come with me, or we may leave A with Chris and a bottle (which she has yet to ever successfully take really)...we shall see and worry about it when the time comes though. 

After that, it is the last week of the summer term for Chris.  If he manages to be at UIC this week he's got a lot on his plate.  The students will do labs Monday through Wednesday, and check-out of the labs.  Then he has to get them cleaned, check locks and reset drawers in two weeks time.  The building project he has had going on since December is also supposed to be ready, so he needs to be ready for rubbing elbows with the higher ups in the College and University (dean, president, etc) while trying to get the lab ready for classes that start the end of August.  Hopefully he'll get some more help as his one full-time person is out on sick leave right now and his summer help is going to need to go back to school. 

Oh and, Chris had an interview with the water treatment plant this past week.  He wasn't impressed by the plant, but it may have better hours and better pay.  He would at least then be able to get a counter offer from the University, or a new job, if he gets offered. 

That's what may come this week...as for what happened last week.

Monday Chris had the interview.  I went to the cafe with A and we met Laurie there.  Laurie was shocked at how big, alert, and strong she was.  I managed to snap this pic of her on Laurie's shoulder. 

Wednesday of last week I did venom testing at the allergist's.  They gave me the scratch test and then five rounds of intradermal tests.  Each one had to sit for 15 minutes, so it took all morning.  I'm not allergic to: Honey Bee, Wasp, White Field Hornet, Yellow Hornet, or Yellow Jackets.  Then since those tests didn't show anything they wanted me to do a blood test as well.  I've got bruises up my arm still that make me look like a bad user of some form.  The lady doing the test and I had an interesting conversation towards the end.  She said, "Well it looks like you aren't allergic to anything."  I told her "That based on the test results we could only say that I more than likely wasn't allergic to the five things."  She informed me that those were the most common things to be allergic to when stung.  I told her that was fine, but that didn't mean I couldn't be allergic to something uncommon, and let's face it, with my track record, I probably had something uncommon sting me and cause the reaction.

Thursday I got to go for a run.  I haven't ran since last fall, so it was nice to get out.  It was HOT and humid, but it was great to be out.  I left A with Chris and she stayed asleep for the most part he said.  I even got sore, which means I'm at least a little out of shape.  I didn't go very far, or do it very fast, but I went and I get to go again.  I'm actually planning on going again in a few hours, once it cools down at least a little.

Friday night A and I went to a bridal shower for one of my friends from church.  She is a part of the more "active" group of people -- the ones who play volleyball in the winter, softball in the summer, and do the Friday Night Sports, so at the shower I got to catch up with several of my friends that I haven't really seen in a while since I wasn't able to play vb this winter (worked too much) and haven't been out to Friday Night Sports (since I had a baby and wasn't really cleared to play until about a month ago, and I haven't really been here since then).  Chris dressed her in a tutu and we got to put a bow in her hair.  She doesn't seem to control her hands much, but she sure had the best aim in knocking the bow out of her hair.  :)  Here's a picture of us dressed and ready to go:

For the A update:  She's working really hard to sit up by herself and turn over from back to front.  She can do both about halfway -- she can turn on her side and sit up to about a good crunch level.  She is still eating, sleeping and pooping like a champ.  Well, she has decided that she doesn't like naps, so that makes her a LOT more cranky and less of a sleeping champ.  Chris and I are learning ways of lulling her back to sleep (or getting her there) to make her a champ again.  We are also reading a lot.  The Borders by us is going out of business so we got The Lorax and The Sleep Book to help us expand her library.  Chris really wanted The Sneetches, but it wasn't there when I went on Friday.   Here is a random picture of her from the week:

I suppose that is about it.  I've managed to get this all done with A asleep, so I should probably go get ready for her to wake up.  I hope all is well with you, and that you aren't melting.