Whoa, So I Haven't Posted In...Umm...Forever...

Yeah, this is kind of bad lol Look at me being all fail-blogger-ish!

Cael is a big boy now! He smiles all the time! (unless he's hungry or tired or cranky)

His new favorite game is when we change his diaper. We ask him if he pooped his pants and if he needs "a new butt." He'll smile really big and make a noise that sounds like "Yeah!" so we'll fly him into the bedroom to change his diaper. First, he gets his "hat" on. Then we move his legs like he's running really fast and lift his bottom up off the changing area. Then we actually get to changing his diaper. He thinks this is hilarious!

Cael can almost reach for toys but he still has a little bit of trouble with controlling his arm movement. When we lay him on his stomach, he can hold his head up for almost two minutes before he gets mad and wants to be picked up. Morning is his favorite time of day, especially five or six in the morning... I don't like that too much...

He is almost sleeping through the night! He can go from nine or ten to five or six without waking up for a bottle. On average, he eats anywhere between four and six ounces at each feeding. We've been trying out different bottles to see which one cuts down on Cael's gas issues and spit up volume and so far, Dr. Brown is the only type that seems to help. Mylicon made it more painful for him to pass gas so we stopped that. Gentlease has been working pretty well too. We've started mixing a tablespoon of rice cereal into a six ounce bottle before bedtime, which may contribute to his longer night sleeping. I have given him rice cereal as a spoon food and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. I think he just liked having the spoon in his mouth. I mix a small amount of the cereal with formula until it's a watery chunky looking mixture. That makes it easier for him to digest.

 Brad and I are working on packing up our things and moving out of our apartment (FINALLY). However, both of us are currently doing our own respective things; he is writing for his RPG site and I'm blogging. We have the bedroom (minus dressers, bed, and necessary items) and the bathroom (again, minus the necessary items) done. I'm dreading the living room pick up... It looks like an earthquake disaster zone...

I'm doing two online classes this summer:  Spanish 102 and General Psychology. My Gen Psych class is online and I don't start Spanish until July. I have yet to order my book for Psych due to a lack of funding (aka I had to pay for a storage unit for our crap and I now have almost no money in the checking account :/ ). The book only costs thirty three dollars on EBay but I don't have that money right now... Stupid sixty dollar deposit... Why does everything have to revolve around money? Oh, and I forgot to mention that I am now working three jobs. That's right, in addition to working at the nursery and JC Penney, I now work at Maritz Research again. So if you rented a car from Enterprise, I may be the one calling you to do a survey. W00t... This means less time spent with Cael and less time spent with Brad, which is taking a toll on our relationship... Even our Saturday fun nights aren't as fun as they were before because we end up discussing something that makes us fight... I know arguments are good for relationships and we always make up in the end, but I still hate having them. But we love each other and won't let stupid little tiffs get in the way of that :) That's how I know we're meant to be.

Well, I'm not sure when I will be able to post again... Due to moving to my mother's house for a couple of months to save up money for a new living space, we have a lack of Internet service so it may be a while before another update pops up. I'll try to post again soon though :)

Best wishes to you all!

I Swear, This Kid Will Be The Death Of Me

Every time I freaking try to blog, I swear Cael just senses that I'm typing and he wakes up and cries... I won't even be in the same room as him and he does this...

So Brad, Cael, and I went Warrensburg to visit Brad's family. It was a good trip too. Cael slept practically the whole way. We did stop in Macon to try to feed him because he hadn't eaten in a while. While there, a Department of Corrections bus and van pulled up in front of us. The bus was full of inmates and they kept tapping on the windows and whistling and waving at us. It was so creepy!

We left Macon and made it down to Warrensburg without a hitch. I drove the whole way. It wasn't all that bad considering how little sleep I had the night before. Cael had stayed up for a VERY long time and was crying and fussing the whole time. We were so frustrated that night, it was so awful. We cried with him because we were so frustrated... We started texting for help at 4 am and got three responses: my mom, Hanna, and Miranda. Brad texted his mom too.

Brad's friend Mark came up to visit for a couple of days and stayed in our apartment. He kept saying that he'll be up all night and that he would be helping because he's an insomniac etc. but he slept ALL FREAKING NIGHT. Liar.

At my doctor appointment before we left, Dr. Carr said that my blood pressure was still pretty high but that being on Procardia for a month or so should help with that. He also gave me a bunch of pamphlets about birth control so we can talk about that when I go back in two weeks. That's been a source of stress for me--whether to start a birth control method or not. I want to because I want another baby to be on our terms. I know that abstinence is the best policy but, if you think logically, are we really going to be able to abstain from sex for four or more years? I don't think so. I think it might be a good idea, just in case.

OMFG HE DID IT AGAIN!

Yes, now I'm typing with a baby in my lap... Rather difficult... As soon as he's asleep, I'll put him in the Boppy though. That thing is an amazing baby necessity and I love it :)

Anyway, the stay in Warrensburg wasn't al that bad...just very loud... I had a headache the whole time I was down there so all sounds and lights were amplified and I could barely make it through the day... Friday night was the worst. Cael started fussing around 11 pm and Brad's mom, who had been taking care of him Thursday night so we could sleep, said that she couldn't take the first feeding because she was tired. She said that she would take the early morning ones though. I was feeding him and Brad was on the computer and Brad's dad was watching college basketball. I was doing okay unti la wave of pain went over my whole head and I felt like I was going to drop Cael right off my lap. I didn't want to ask out loud so I texted Brad even though he was sitting less than 5 feet away from me (yes, I know I'm a loser) to ask if he would take Cael so I could go to bed. He did and after Cael had been fed and laid in bed, Brad came into the room where I was sleeping and held me while I cried. It hurt so bad that I didn't want to move...

The headache went away by the next morning and Brad's cousin Matt, his wife Amy, and his two little boys Ryan and Chris, came over to see Cael (and so the boys could see Brad). They gave us very cute little gifts: burp rags (because we only have two official burp rags and we've been using receiving blankets), a little sleeper outfit with dinosaurs on it, and a blanket with a little truck on it. While they were there, I took the opportunity to order a baby carrier (a backpack-like one that goes in the front) from Wal Mart. It was cheaper for Site to Store shipping so I chose that and it should arrive by April 5th (too long for my taste, but oh well).

The drive back on Saturday was almost perfect too, except when we got almost to Blackwater on I-70. A semi truck tried to merge right on top of the mini van while I was driving. Needless to say, it scared the living sh*t out of me and I freaked out, had a panic attack, and started bawling. We pulled over in Blackwater so I could gather myself and we could switch drivers. I still have nightmares about that moment...

We got to Moberly and made a pit stop so I could use the bathroom and change Cael's very wet and dirty diaper. That is one blessing and curse with this kid -- he doesn't cry when his diaper is gross which is a plus, but you don't find out about the nastiness inside of it until it's almost too late and it's about to spill out the sides. So I started the grueling process of the diaper change, and Cael, as always, was screaming at the top of his lungs. And then it happens. As I was about to pull up the front of the clean diaper to fasten it, a huge jet of urine that goes all over the back side of the bathroom changing station, all over the blanket I have laid out under Cael, and all over Cael himself. If I thought his normal screaming was bad, it was nothing compared to what came out of his mouth then. And to top it all off, he coughed and shot poop into the not-yet-fastened-not-clean-now diaper. I open up the door to the bathroom to look for Brad (it was literally right next to the changing station so no, I didn't leave Cael unattended) and luckily he was standing right outside so I told him to run out and get another outfit for Cael and to ask for a plastic bag to put the pee-soaked things in. He did it right away and we got Cael and the changing station all cleaned up. Cael was still fussing so we stayed in the connected restaurant and gave him a bottle. What a day it was.

Sunday I went to work like normal and took Cael with me. A friend of mine, Laura, had volunteered to do pictures for Cael so after eating lunch, we went back to the church for pictures. Cael was fine for a little bit and let Laura get a couple of shots but then all hell broke loose and he would not calm down after that. She got some pictures but they weren't what she was hoping for and he was just fussing so much that we decided to call it quits.

Sunday night/Monday morning I ended up going to the emergency room because of a rash I've had for about a week now. I can't relieve it with any of the normal stuff -- calamine lotion, Gold Bond, aloe, lotion, hydrocortizone, and Benadryl all didn't work. The doctor at the hospital couldn't identify it either but all the tests for mononeucleosis, strep throat, and whatever else they tested me for came back negative. I haven't changed detergents, fabric softeners, or soaps either. The doctor ended up prescibing some medicine that I can't pronounce and when I went to get the script filled, I was told I couldn't have it because the doctor had not given his D.E.A. number. I was so mad. My legs and arms itch like crazy and it looks like I'm getting the same thing on my stomach... And I can't have the medicine that relieves it because of a stupid doctor's mistake. Grr...

Well that's all I have for right now. I'm not going to lie, motherhood is HARD...