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

Rory's first day in the snow

So many firsts, so little time. We are over in Sunriver for the week and enjoying every minute of it. There was 8 inches of snow the first night and 2-3 inches each night since then so each morning is beautiful. Brady and Shahni and the boys are here along with several other friends. We took all the kids out to play in the snow. Owen and Caden made a snow man and the babies all enjoyed using Rory's new sled. Pat and Shahnaz both got their workouts in being the sled pullers. Attached are some photos of Rory's first snowday.

Rory's 1st Christmas

Although we have several events to chronicle- and I hope I get time in the next few days to catch up on posting pictures from our various holiday celebrations, I just wanted to add a few things from Rory's first Christmas morning. It is fitting that the only sign she knows is "more" after ripping and eating each piece of wrapping paper, she would excitedly sign "more". I think she has the spirit of Christmas pretty much down- just kidding. It is wonderful to be in our own home, with our tree and new stockings and see how excited she is for each new treasure that comes her way. She also started calling her grandparents who are here by their name, Baba, Papa and grandma- still no mama, but that's okay- I love how excited the grandparents got- it added to the feeling of Christmas. And of course, it was sheer delight when we finally realized (thanks to a phone call from Aunt Lynne) that it is snowing. (we don't have time to look out the window- we have to look at the baby!!) It is so cool that Rory(and Quincy, and Eli, and Cole, and Finn and Tate and all the other 2007 babies) have a 1st Christmas that is a white Christmas!! I hope each of you has a wonderful holiday. For those of you we don't get to see, I hope this helps share Rory's 1st Christmas, and for those of you we got to celebrate with, THANK YOU for making her first Christmas so special! Merry Christmas! ~PB&R

She's brilliant...

So Rory had her 9 month well-check today. Other then a cough and runny nose they basically said she is brilliant. I think the doctor was most impressed when Rory tried her distraction technique and was able to steal not only the doctor's pen but her paper clip as well- all in one stealthy motion. She is leveling out on the growing- a bit of a sting bean- only gained .5 lbs in the last 3 months. Her head went from the 55% at birth to the 100% at this visit, hence my deduction that she must be brilliant. She said her first words this week- "dada" of course. We tested and she was consistantly talking to Pat, so it is official. She also started using her signs last week- "more" is the current favorite and she will still wave to anyone who will look at her. We are headed into the eye of the storm that is the holidays- I probably won't be back online until after the 27th- so Merry Christmas, enjoy the celebrations and family and friends. ~Brittany

Christmas is coming

This cracked me up...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1407409992

Our entire family has been sick this week- but that doesn't stop the holidays from fastly approaching. the house is as decorated as it is gonna get, we have a full social schedule for the next two weeks and Rory is very curious about the tree and all that is underneath it. She is waving consistantly now and has also started signing the word "more". She also slaps her leg to call a dog- not a bad start in the sign language department. I am going to try and post more often, I just forget. I still haven't sent out the link, so as of now- now one is even reading this. I will try to send it out today. Hope all who may read this eventually are having a great holiday season thus far!

Rory's first christmas season

As we head full tilt into the holiday season, I am amazed at how much Rory is enjoying and participating in activities. I really thoughg this year would not really count since she is so young, but she has loved everything about it so far. She was totally into all the lights at both Sunriver and the Zoo and the newport aquarium. She loves all the "new toys" aka decorations mom has brought out and she LOVES the music. I think she is a natural little elf! Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving trip to SR. Rory's first Christmas events ever!

First Blog Entry

After looking for a good way to share info/pictures about the happenings in our household, I think we finally decided that this would be the best medium. I have tried websites, shutterfly, emailing etc. but all are a bit more time consuming then I can commit to. So, we thought we would give this a shot. The other nice part is that you all can look at this as often as you want and it will be up to you as to how much you want to look at us! I was feeling guilty about bombarding you all with hundreds of pictures each month. For every picture that appears here, know there are probably ten that didn't make the cut, but I will try to weed through it and only add the really good ones! Rory literally changes on a daily basis, so I will do my best to keep this updated. Thanks for being a part of our virtual baby book!