8 Months 1 Week 4 Days

I'm so sorry to let so much time go by before updating this thing!

We've been keeping busy over the last couple of weeks. Mainly church on Wednesdays and Sundays. Shad's been working late at work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He's been leaving the house at 6:00 am and not getting home until about 8:30 pm. It's good for the finances, but it really stinks that he's gone so much! Christopher's still asleep when he leaves. By the time he gets home, Christopher's fussy and ready for bed. I know that Shad would rather be home than at work, too.

I started playing softball with our church's co-ed team this week...no practices beforehand either! I got a phone call a few days ago from the coach asking me if I could play this season because one of the women will not be able. Normally, Shad and I are back-ups (but still get to play quite frequently). So, I'm going to try to play in each game. It'll all depend on Christopher. Our first game was this past Thursday evening at 7:15. I brought Christopher with me where a teammate's mother watched him. Shad was able to get off work early so came by to watch about 1/2 the game. We won 8-5. I did okay batting but am really rusty out in the field! They had me playing left-center. I've been really sore the last couple of days, but, surprisingly, am not as sore as I was expecting to be!

Christopher waved bye-bye for the first time Thursday evening! Shad didn't think much of it until he waved to me Friday evening. He doesn't use just his hand. Instead, he waves his whole arm up and down. It's so cute! I should try to get a video and post it on here.

Christopher's now got a total of 6 teeth that have come through and is working on at least 1 more. He's got 4 bottoms and 2 tops. The one that's trying to come through is another top tooth. Up until recently, I don't think teething has been bothering him. However, over the last couple of weeks, his sleep patterns have been messed up. He's now waking up around 4:00 or 4:30 am and wanting to eat! He normally would go from about 9:00 pm to 6:00 or 7:00 am. Plus, he's been boycotting at least 1 nap per day. It's not consistent or I'd just drop that nap, so I don't know what his deal is. I sure hope he goes back to sleeping longer soon!

I'm finally getting to go for an interview with Shop At Home. It'll be this Tuesday in Nashville. This is the position that I've really been wanting to get for a while, but have been unable. They went out of business a while back, but were bought out by someone else so are back and are hiring again. A friend of mine from church works for them and has been keeping me updated. It's going to be good because it's a 3rd shift telecommuter position, so I'll be able to stay home with Christopher, plus make a little extra money on the side. From what I understand, I'd probably be working 15 hours per week or 5 hours a night for 3 nights a week. The downside, though, is that I'll have to go to training and then work in the call-center (in South Nashville...about a 45 minute drive one-way) for the first 45 days. That means finding childcare for Christopher, which I'm not fond of! I know it's only temporary, but I still don't like it. Plus, I'm afraid that working away from home like that might affect my milk supply. I've used my frozen supply and am working on building it back up. I can probably supplement with formula for a short while, but I don't know if I'll be able to pump while away. I plan to find out at the interview.

Speaking of breastfeeding...for the first time in 8 months, I'm having a problem. In the beginning, I never did deal with sores or blisters or pain of any kind. I said that I had "nipples of steel!" LOL! Well, now that Christopher's got his top teeth, I've got 2 tiny sores. Thankfully, he's not been biting; it's just from his teeth rubbing against me. I called a lactation consultant who advised me to get some Neosporin without lanocane and some Hydrocortizone cream, mix them together and use them 3x a day after he nurses. It's to keep the bacteria from infecting it and possibly causing Mastitis. I used the first dose yesterday and noticed the relief right away. It doesn't help while he nurses, though. However, I'm trying him in different positions so that his teeth won't rest right on top of the sores. So far, one particular position has helped a little. It's still sore, but as long as Christopher doesn't pull and tug, it's bearable.

A few weeks ago, during a heavy thunderstorm, our roof started leaking and broke through the ceiling in our living room. The landlord had a new TIN roof put on a couple of weeks ago. This week, we've had a repairman here replacing the ceiling where the water leaked through. He had to cut out a 3x3 section, put new sheetrock up and mud it. He came back a couple of days later and re-mudded it. Then, he came back this morning and mudded it again! He'll be back on Monday to paint the whole ceiling.

While the repairman was ripping out the old ceiling, he found Carpenter Ants, so I've got to call an exterminator to have them taken care of. We sure don't need the wood in the roof giving out and caving in! After all this mess AND the whole water heater leaking and ruining the kitchen floor about 5 years ago, we're so glad that we're renting and don't own this house! Some people may consider renting to be throwing their money away, but I don't! When something goes wrong, I just have to call the landlord, who's really good about fixing things, and they take care of it instead of us! I found out that the landlord's insurance is covering the new roof and ceiling since it was supposedly caused by hail damage. We've had some hail over the last few years while living here, but nothing that I thought would cause damage. Certainly no damage to our vehicles. So, I was surprised to hear that the shingles were missing some gravel as a result of the hail.

Shad's gone to play in the church golf scramble today. He hasn't played since the Spring scramble and asked me if I'd mind him playing in this one. I told him to go ahead as he deserves it with all the time he's been spending at work. He left around 6:00 this morning and probably won't get home until early afternoon. I just wish that I could have a getaway like that on occasion. Unfortunately, I won't be able to until Christopher's weaned.

Football season starts 1 WEEK FROM TODAY!!! YAY! I'm so excited! We're still planning to take Christopher with us and drop him off at my dad's house. I'm interested to see how it all works...will I bring enough milk?...when will I actually be able to nurse him myself?...how's my body going to do without me being able to pump?...how's Christopher going to do getting home so late? I don't think I'll have to worry about how he'll do while at my dad's...he's usually pretty good. Patti will probably be the main one taking care of him and she knows what she's doing. I just hope that I bring enough milk and don't get engorged while away!

Tonight we're having a cookout here at our house. I've invited some online friends and some real-life friends. Plus, Richard will be here. I think we'll have a total of 8 adults (including Shad and me) and 4 kids/babies. I've been busy last evening and today cleaning house!

Speaking of cleaning...I'd better get back to it while Christopher's napping! I'll try to update after the ballgame next week!

7 Months 3 Weeks 3 Days

Wow! 1 week from today, Christopher will be 8 months old! Time is flying by SO fast!

Two weeks ago, I spent two nights at my mom's house with the 5 dogs (+ Brinkley) while she and my aunt went to a funeral in Georgia. Boy, was that fun and interesting! Please remind me to never have more than 2 dogs at a time...especially indoor dogs! Pretty much every nap Christopher took was cut short because of dogs barking! Grrr!

Last week, Christopher and I spent a night at my dad's in Knoxville. My sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces were down from Pennsylvania for a few days. Since the last time I saw them was 3 years ago, and because they haven't seen Christopher yet, I decided to make a quick trip over there. It was really nice getting to see them all again. I just wish we didn't live so far apart. The girls are growing up SO FAST! Courtney will be 11 in October and Kaitlyn will be 8 in October. Courtney's now involved in modeling and has head shots and everything! I remember when she was a baby and now she's modeling??? Before I know it, Christopher's going to be that old!

While we were gone, Christopher said his first word...Mama! Actually, it's more like ma ma ma ma ma ma. He doesn't use it in context yet. Shad's not pleased since he's been trying to get Christopher to say Dada for a long time now! He he!

This past weekend, Shad noticed that 2 more of Christopher's bottom teeth had popped through for a total of 4 bottom teeth. I noticed today that 2 TOP teeth are starting to come through, too! That's going to be a total of SIX teeth by the time he's 8 months old!!! All of these are coming in without any change in behaviour, so I don't think they're bothering him too much (THANK GOODNESS!!!). So far, he's not really biting me much. I hope that stays the same while all these teeth are coming in!

Football season starts in less than 1 month (specifically 25 days 0 hours and 15 minutes)! You can bet that I'm going to be there since I missed all but 1 game last year! PawPaw and Grandma Patti are going to babysit Christopher for me. It's going to be quite interesting to see how things go since it's a 3 hour drive over there and a 3 hour drive home. PLUS, the game doesn't start until 5:30 EST, so we'll be getting home pretty late. THEN, we have to get up early for church the next morning. Uff da! Unfortunately, future games for me will probably depend on how things go at the first one. The plus side of a late game, though, is that we get to tailgate, which we didn't get to do at all last year. That's always lots of fun, too!

No crawling yet. That's not to say he's not mobile, though! He pretty much gets to wherever he wants by rolling and scooting! Shad seems to think it won't be long before Christopher's crawling, but I can't really tell. He's gotten on all fours once or twice, but that's been over the last month or so. He hasn't really progressed in that area. He IS able to pull himself into a standing position when he holds our hands. He won't try it when holding on to anything else, though...just our hands. Watch him start walking before he crawls! One day last week, I walked into his room to get him after a nap and he was sitting up waiting for me. That was the first time that happened, but he hasn't done it since then.

As far as solids go...since my last entry, I've introduced him to Peas, Turkey and now Beef tonight. He LOVED them all! He seems to really like pretty much anything I've given to him, so don't really know what, if anything, are his favorites. I assume we'll determine that over time.

Speaking of eating...it's time for him to eat now, so better end here. I'll try to update as more milestone's start happening.

7 months 1 week 2 days

In the last week, I've introduced Oatmeal and Pears. He accepted the oatmeal, but it wasn't his favorite food. However, he LOVED the pears, of course! Last night for dinner, I mixed rice cereal with pears and he loved that. Today for lunch, I mixed rice cereal with some sweet potatoes. He doesn't really like sweet potatoes by themselves, but he really liked them mixed with cereal. I think we'll try that again for dinner tonight...if Shad will ever get home from work.

For the past 2 weeks now, he's been working a lot of overtime. It sucks not being able to see him much and not knowing when he'll get home for dinner, but the bigger paychecks are nice! Starting in August, he's going to have to work some Saturdays, too. Apparently, working more than 40 hours a week on Monday through Friday just isn't cutting it!

I had another crappy weekend. Last weekend it was Christopher who was sick. This weekend, it was me. I started getting a sore throat on Wednesday evening and it's only progressively gotten worse. Finally, Saturday morning I couldn't stand it anymore and went to the local walk-in clinic. Of all things, I have strep throat!!! Just where that came from, I have no idea!!! I haven't had that since I was a kid...probably 15-20 years ago! To top it off, I've got a mouthful of canker sores that make swallowing/eating that much worse. I started taking an antibiotic on Saturday and was told that I'd start feeling better in 24-48 hours. Sure enough, I woke this morning feeling slightly better. It still hurts to swallow/eat but it's getting a little better. I'm hoping to be completely over this in a couple of days.

I'm going down to stay with the dogs at my mom's while she and my aunt go to a funeral in Georgia. I'll be going down on Wednesday and returning on Friday. I just hope Christopher doesn't catch this strep throat! I guess we can both suffer down there as well as we can up here, but down there we'll have 6 indoor dogs (5 of theirs and 1 of mine) to deal with.

Well, Shad's finally on his way home from work and it looks like we'll be having Subway for dinner. I've got a show on tv that I want to watch and it starts soon, so don't want to be cooking in the middle of it. I'll leave you with a few words from Christopher:

" pvbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbgjxycb cdf b bvb
h tfdzx "