Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Six

This past week has been crazy, even though our home is pretty much back to normal after the kitchen cabinet remodel. I am very thankful to have dinner at our kitchen table in our actual kitchen. Not having a kitchen with two small children was quite the adventure. I'll be posting about the cabinets in the next few days or so. I still need to take some "after" photos. I love them. They are so great and clean and I don't have to ever paint them ever again. Hallelujah. 

Many things have been changing this week and I'm just trying to grasp all of it. Granted, most of the change has been at my hand, but nonetheless, our lives have been all over the place lately. Some of you know this, some of you do not but I guess now is a better time as any to tell you all out in the grand internet....

I gave my two weeks notice at the church I work for, at least in the administrative role that I have been in the past few years. For the past few years, I have lived and breathed all things admin. It has been a wild ride but I really started to feel the need for more consistency in our schedule and I really, really, really want to be able to raise our own children. Now I know that sounds like I quit my job and am not replacing it with another, but that is not how this story ends. Long story short...I'm going back to the pediatric dental office I was at for nearly 6 years of my life. Many people probably think I'm crazy but I need a job I can go to, work hard at all day, then walk out the doors and leave it there. With working in a church and in ministry, it's 24/7 in one capacity or another. I think if we didn't have children, this would all look so different but for now, I'm going back to the dental world, part time. I also am still going to be even more involved in worship at church and I'm looking forward to diving deeper into that part of me once more. That part has been dormant for far too long. I've been involved but I have always had a million other administrative responsiblities taking up space in my head. It will be nice to not have to worry about all of that and just focus again in the place my heart really longs for. 

Anyways...enough about me. Sullivan is thirty six weeks old. His top two teeth are going to break through any day now and he's had quite a bit of teething pain this week. His normal demeanor is super chill to begin with so I know when he's hurting. Poor dude. Teething is pretty much the worst. 

He's been eating like a champ. The dude loves eat. His current favorites are meatballs, tortellini, peas, carrots, avocados, hummus, and bananas. He eats better than Marin most days. The girl knows what she likes and pretty much refuses to steer away from that. I know that's mostly our fault as parents...too many cheeseburgers...not enough broccoli. 

I have been trying to not nurse or pump quite as much and keep end up being in way too much pain. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. I was trying to get down to one pumping session during the day at work, especially with the new job coming up and just feed him in the morning and at night. But, we aren't quite there yet. I need to slowly back off of all the feedings and supplement instead of going almost cold turkey. My body gets all confused and in pain when I drastically start changing feeding times and frequencies. Breastfeeding has been great this time around and I am definitely not ready to give it up completely. 

Marin has been on Spring Break this week and it's been nice with all of my work craziness to not have her in school for a few days. She's had one slumber party already with the grandparents and she will be with the other set of grandparents tomorrow evening with her cousin. Marin loves sleepovers but I feel like they wipe her out so much. When she finally does sleep, she sleeps hard. 

Here's Marin at Week Thirty Six.  The crazy thing is that when I posted her week thirty six, I had just changed jobs to the job that I just gave my notice at this week. Life is crazy sometimes. 

Week Thirty Six. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Thirty Five

What a whirlwind of a week. Phew. I feel like we haven't had a moment of calm for many days in our home. We had our cabinets refaced and a backsplash done this week. They just finished yesterday and I am so excited with how it all turned out. But, we were without a kitchen for a week and resorted to eating breakfast in our basement and hanging out at other people's houses. My house needs a really good, deep clean because I feel like there's just a fine layer of dust pretty much everywhere. I've been sneezing like crazy since I woke up this morning and I'm ready to conquer the dust. I am also very ready to get everything put back into our cabinets and bring order into the chaos a bit. 

We also just went through a refinance and everything went smoothly with that. It was pretty comical last night though because they send an agent to your home to sign your final papers. I am knucklehead and decided to schedule this while we didn't have a kitchen and while our kitchen table was in our family room in the basement surrounded my music gear and kid toys. Bless the woman who came to have us sign documents. It was pretty much a hot mess from when she entered our home to when she left. Our living room was full of boxes, our kitchen was a mess. Our children were fussy and hungry. There was a weird smell in the basement. It was definitely not our shining moment as homeowners and as parents. I was looking very forward to getting everything signed and getting her out of our hot mess of a home. It's funning now looking back at it but at the time I wanted to crawl into a hole for a while. 

Sully is working on some new teeth and I can see them getting ready to poke through the gums. He's had a few rough moments this week. I think mostly teeth are to blame but we also were all over the place this week with meals and nap times. I'm looking very forward to getting some consistency back in our schedule this week and to normalize our naps and mealtimes. Both kids were troopers this week and I am thankful for that. Marin probably only napped one day out of seven this past week. I know she fights the nap and most of the time just entertains herself during quiet time. But, the kid still needs a nap sometimes, especially when the world around her is in such upheaval. We had a few rough tantrums this week from her and I know our schedule is to blame. 

Sully tried a few new things this week food wise, even with all of the meal craziness. I found that little dude loves hummus. He also tried a fruit and veggie pouch at the coffeehouse yesterday. He seemed to really like it and I would love the ease of a pouch. He's still been rocking the sweet potatoes and chicken. He love carrots and peas. He eats a lot of bananas and yogurt bites. 

Many things in our lives are changing. I realize that is fairly vague and goes beyond just getting our cabinets redone. I'm trying to grasp all of it and move through a season of change as best as I can. I do believe that the changes at hand are good and I am excited for what may come out of all of it. 

Today, I plan on focusing on the kids schedules and offering some normalcy in their lives. I want to scrub down the house and conquer the dust. I want to cook in my kitchen and clean out the fridge. We definitely need groceries in the next day or so as well. I probably won't even get out of my pajamas and plan to not leave the house unless absolutely necessary. 

I really need to catch up some blog stuff too this week. I need to post my February Portrait. My One Little Word Post. Lots of catching up to be done....

Week Thirty Five. 

Here's Marin at Thirty Five Weeks. 

Baby Marin | Week Thirty Six

Look at our child's face. Just look at it. This is the face of...OMG, Mom, you almost forgot to post my weekly picture. 

You're right, kid. You are right. It is Saturday evening and here I am writing away. 

We will keep this short and sweet because that's kind of how life is rolling these days. I've recently changed jobs, more on that later. I am surrounded by baby toys and a fussy baby that is probably not going to take this time change very well. She will surely be a little confused tomorrow morning when she tries to wake up at 4am. Still no teeth in her adorable little mouth and I am certain I will be shocked when we finally have a tooth. 

Good things are happening, many good things. 

Baby Marin. Week Thirty Six. 

Baby Marin: Week Thirty Four | 8 Months

I hate teething. I hate it so much. I hate knowing that our little girl is in pain and there's only so much we can do for her. We just have to get through it. I have major respect now for all of the parents that have gone through the season of the teething child. We are only in the very beginning and I already dislike it very much.

We have had some very early mornings lately. Drool soaked clothes. Tired, weary eyes from crying. She's fighting this so hard and it shows when she finally lets exhaustion take its course and she sleeps.

We don't have one single tooth yet. Not a one. I keep hoping that one day I will wake up, stumble into the nursery, pick Marin up out of her crib, start nursing her, and then realize that we finally have a tooth: the one thing she has been working so hard for.

I know this is only the beginning. I know most parents are just laughing on the inside right now thinking, "Just wait until she gets molars." Oh Lord, I don't want to think about that right now. We just need one tooth. Just one.

She now says "Mama" though, and my heart jumps a little every time. We went for a walk yesterday and she loved when the leaves would fall off of the huge neighborhood trees and into her stroller. We forgot about teething for a little bit on our walk and that was just what we needed.

I believe we will need another walk like that today, if only to forget for a little while, the fight for the first tooth.

Week Thirty Four. 

Baby Marin: Week Thirty Three

Here we are. It's Thursday already in yet another crazy week. I don't like when our weeks are so busy that I can't wait to spend a Thursday just with our kid. The past few days I have seen far too little of her aside from the early morning feedings and the bedtimes. I don't like that. That is not the type of parent I desire to be. Life is just crazy sometimes. We are in one of those seasons.

Still no teeth yet. Part of me is shocked due to the amounts of drool on a daily basis, the other part of me knows that it will happen when it's time. I'm just ready to reach that milestone and then wait for more teeth.

Next week we will have an 8 month old on our hands. I always say it, but I can't believe how quickly time is flying. We will be preparing for a one year old soon enough. Now with a new little cousin around, I realize how long ago the newborn stage feels now. Everything about our season with Marin is different than it was before. Her personality shines through every single day. She discovers the world one army crawl at a time and has to slobber over everything she sees. We battle nap times and bedtimes lately but she still mostly sleeps through the night. Now if I could get her to sleep past 5am, we would be golden.

Bath time is no longer a fight. Now that she can sit up and splash around, I think she's fine with the situation. Sink baths have been a fun change lately as well.

Time really does go by too fast these days.

Week Thirty Three.