over the river and through the woods...

...to grandmother's house she goes. So I started my new job today. I have been working since Sept. but this was my return to the up early- out the door in the dark-home in the dark work world. First let me say, that I LOVE my new job. I get to be the counselor for all the students that I had previously been a teacher for. Since I think I am a much better counselor then teacher, it works out well. Nothing better then manically running from one group of wayward teens to the next. I think the highlight of my day(at least the part that made me giggle the most) was (earmuffs boys) using the carjack attachment to my breastpump and pumping on my drive from one site to the other, including the tacobell drive-thru. I told you it made me giggle! I did have a cover on- so it was decent and very discreet, but still funny. So back to the title of this entry- So since I returned to work Baba (aka -joanne, pat's mom) has selflessly volunteered to watch Rory for the 2 days a week. One day at her house on the west side (hence over the river she goes) and one day at our house. So this was her first day of being away from me for more then 4 hours at a time, and I think she did better then me. I was a little meloncholy this morning. As I woke our snoring 70 year old man, oh wait-10 month old baby girl (she just sounds like a 70 year old man) from a sound sleep, got her settled in her car seat and sent her out the door into the cold windy morning with her dad I had pangs of sadness, guilt, remorse, doubt, and worry-she stuck out her tongue at me, smiled a huge smile and was happy as a clam to be going on a daddy adventure. this was 6:45am. I spent approx. 3 minutes acknowledging these feelings when it suddenly hit me- I was alone in the house. For those of you who aren't moms or parents you probably can't realize the feelings of freedom one can feel in this instant. I literally did a happy dance and then starting the manic-in my head list of all the things I could get done in the next 45 minutes. I prioritized and decided to ignore all house duties and nagging projects and focus solely on getting ready. I managed to brush my teeth and hair in the same day(something that has eluded me up to this point in my parenthood), put on make-up (ok, just mascara- but is still counts), put on clothes that match and were for the most part free of baby residue, find matching socks, pack a bag for myself including food that wasn't pureed. Basically it was a thing of beauty. I could go on and on to describe my day in such detail, but I am running out of time and I am sure you are not nearly as amused by my feats of independance as I am. In the end, I had a fabulous day, my job is great, I was able to focus only on work w/o worrying a single minute about rory. From all reports rory had an amazing day, met a friend(and held hands) at starbucks, was fed homemade organic food, had music/dance time, had arts and craft time, and essentially will be a more well-rounded, smarter kid for getting a little variety in her week. I am so thankful that we have so many wonderful caretakers around for her and that I get the opportunity to miss her. Good night.... Brittany

sunny days

The weather here has been amazing. Super cold and windy but really sunny. It is so amazing how much good it does my mood to see the sunshine! I keep wanting to take Rory out and go do stuff outside because it looks so nice, but then the minute we step outside I remember it is still January and barely above freezing. Madi and I did venture out on a walk both to the local park to feed the ducks and up to washington park. Both adventures were cold, but I think Rory enjoyed them. The glasses are a new thing. Pat was watching her one night and they found them in the drawer and were playing with them and now they are a favorite accessory. Such a diva...

I ended up accepting the new job, so I will be working 2 full days a week instead of just 4-5 hours at a time. Should be a good balance and Rory has so much fun with Joanne/Madi (her current 2 caregivers) that I am not worried at all about her adjusting. I do however worry about me adjusting. How do people get through the day without at least one siesta? I guess that is what cars are for. I will keep everyone updated on how it goes. I am also going to attempt to backtrack and add some pictures to previous entries, mainly christmas. Time for bed, Britt

on second thought

maybe I should have been tisking(see last entry) more at omsi. We were there on Wed. and by Friday Rory had a fever and by sat. was in the ER with 104.2 temp. Scary, awful and not fun to say the least. The good news is kids tend to get better as quickly as they get sick- so she is fully recovered and we are starting to get back into our normal routine. No way to know for sure if it was all the chewing on toys at OMSI, or all the sick people (including her parents) that she has been around. I am still fairly convinced that we can't avoid this stuff- it is everywhere this year. We went back to her sign class on thurs. she is consistantly signing "more" "all done" "dog" and "hi/bye" She loves class, although rarely pays attention. She is too busy stealing toys from those younger then her and trying to get her toys back from those older then her- ah the pecking order! This week we start seriously working on her sleep schedule as I got offered a job with more hours and will probably be going to work for long days soon. We will start the process of finding a nanny/day care so if any of you know of someone PLEASE let me know!! Have a great weekend. Britt

ramblings on parenthood

So we have settled back into the home routine and recovered from our crazy and wonderful holiday travels and celebrations. I am back at work this week and we have re-entered the world of baby playdates. We attended the library baby time on Monday with Joanne. Rory loved it. She was a bit put off by all the playing- she takes her reading very seriously and was a little confused as to why we were all singing and playing and not concentrating on the books- we might have a little academic on our hands. She also impressed the other mommies by her insistance on sharing things with other babies- I think all the time we have spent telling Owen to share things with the babies has rubbed off on her- because now she spends most of her time trying to give other people toys. We attended OMSI with some friends Alyssa and Charlie today and she has her sign class tomorrow- A very busy week in the life of a 9.5 month old. So since I have a rare moment with Pat gone and Rory in bed I feel the need to comment on our visit to OMSI today. Since Rory doesn't walk around yet, I end up sitting in the infant corner with lots of time to observe the other kids and moms. It seems that I have been thinking a lot lately about "parenting styles" and where I/we fit in. It seems that it has come up a lot and people have asked me a lot lately about my mommy style. To quote Juno "I don't really know what kind of girl (insert mom) I am". After watching the moms today, I guess I know more about the kind of mom I am not, then the kind I am. I am NOT the mom that spent the entire time video taping her 11 month old. This mom's only interaction with her son was to tisk (also something I am not, a tisker) him when he tried to put anything in his mouth. Should make fascinating HOURS of video tape. I am not the constant nurser mom. This mom sat on a bench while her 1.5 year old went about playing only to return every 10-15 minutes for a quick 30 snack. I am not a 7-11!! I am not (well at least not today) the totally frazzeled mom- this lady had what looked to be a BRAND new baby strapped to her chest, several different bags strapped to her body, a 2 year old on her hip and an appearance of utter shock. I felt like I should ask if she needed any help, only because I am sure I have at some point had that same look and will more then likely be there again in the future. I am not the gasper mom- this one followed her learning to walk child around gasping at every teetor, on this scale I am the complete opposite- Rory took a header out of the foam circle that holds the colored balls and I just sat there- several moms looked at me like I was completely heartless. I figure Rory will let me know when she needs me, she got herself up from her header- it just took her a minute. there weren't even any tears. I also felt judging eyes (okay that might be a bit dramatic) when I let Rory chew on the toys from the water table and get fairly soaking wet. I am not sure I could keep things out of her mouth, even if I tried, and I am not sure what the point of a water table is if you are going to be obsessed with trying to keep them dry- I guess I just have lower standards! There were several moms that I think fit into the category I like to call "urban hip". Babies wearing baby legs, great shoes, and clothes that I think were great and that my mom would think didn't match. Letting their kids maul eachother in the name of letting them figure it out. Like I said, I am not sure where I fit into all this, and I am the last person to judge anyone else's parenting style, but it is helpful to sit and observe how others do it, both to clarify my own style and see examples of what I want to avoid and what I want to strive for. I apologize for the agonizingly long entry that seems fairly narsisstic, but I am pretty sure that is the nature of blogging in general. If you have any insights into my parenting style as you see it, please share, I am always interested in others perceptions! I swear parenting is just one big social experiment! I will upload more pics soon as miss rory is starting to get some hair! that is just a teaser so you will come back to my blog even after this post....~Britt

Weebles

Thank you to grandma Linda and Grandpa Stan for the weeble castle- it was a huge hit this week at sunriver.

the rest of the SR trip

So the rest of our Sunriver trip was great. We took Rory snowshoeing, and Pat and I managed to get to the mountain for a 1/2 day of skiing. the weather was so nice up there and we had a great day (this was the first time we have gotten to ski together- so that was super fun.) NEw Year's EVe was a bit mellower here. The whole crew was sick, so Pat and I just went to dinner and I think everyone was in bed by 10:30. Rory did wake up at 11:58pm so we didn't miss it entirely! I will attach pictures of us skiing and rory playing in the snow. My favorite ones are of her eating snow. I let her touch the snow with her fingers and she instantly starting eating it. THen of course manically signing "more, more". She is also really into reading books right now. She has been sitting with Baba Joanne and reading each day. she has an amazing attention span- she picks between 2 books and then sits and listens to the whole thing and then of course starts signing "more, more". We really need to get her some more signs!!! I hope everyone had fabulous holidays and a chance to relax. 2008 is going to be a great year, I can feel it! cheers, Brittany