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Saturday, June 29, 2013

A Working Mom

Now that I've been back to work for a touch over 6 months, I figured I would share an update. I absolutely love my job. I feel like I'm still settling in, but for the most part, I feel like I fit. My supervisor is awesome, and I've bettered my scanning skills more than I thought I could.

Being with my new job has given me the opportunity to learn new studies. Prior to this job, I never scanned a pediatric patient. Let me clarify - I've never scanned infant hips, an infant spine or an infant head. Only 6 months in, and I can comfortably ultrasound  both infant hips and infant spines without being checked. I still haven't scanned an infant head, but I feel like that will come soon. 

At work, we get a ton of infant hips to scan. Sometimes a few daily. These babies are mostly 4-8 weeks old. So I definitely get my fill of squishy babies. Most of the time, the studies are normal, and done only because the baby was breech inutero. But it's a scanning skill that makes me more experienced, and therefore makes me feel more confident in my career. 

Now the other side of my job. Leaving Cael every morning. To be honest, it hasn't been too bad leaving in the morning. I'm sure that loving what I do definitely helps. I occasionally get updates and pictures of Cael during the day from Matt, so that definitely helps. And lately, when I get home from work, Cael runs up to me and gives me a big hug. That's the best part of my day. 

So 6 months back to work, and I can say that I'm happy that I've joined the working-mom force. I'm putting my education to work, and I still get awesome quality time with Cael. 



Wednesday, June 5, 2013

21 Months Old! And Sesame Place!!

May 5 - June 4

I feel like the last month flew by. We didn't even do Cael's 20 month stats until this past week. I'm trying to do them on even months, so I can keep a steady record of his growth. But this month was a little off. As of this past week, Cael weighs 28 pounds and is 35 inches tall! That's the 65th and 93rd percentiles respectively. I'm so happy that Little Man has caught up. But honestly, with how much he eats, I'd be surprised if he didn't. The boy can eat. That's the truth. We went to Sesame Place this past weekend, and for breakfast at the hotel, he ate more than I did. One and a half pieces of French toast, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, a serving of fruit, breakfast potatoes, 2 small glasses of OJ and a cup of milk. Yes, I'm serious.

Over the last month, I've seen a big change in Cael's independence. He doesn't want to be carried anymore, and would prefer to walk himself. He loves going up and down stairs, and recently started doing this without holding our hand (or a railing). He also has to take his meals out of the packaging by himself, and then hand them to us to we can microwave them. He has, however, regressed with teeth brushing. Where he used to hold his tooth brush and make the motions of brushing his teeth, he now screams when I brush his teeth. But it has to be done!

Another area that we stepped backwards in great bounds in the bink. Last month, we tried weaning him. We did good for a good 3 days. He wouldn't get it really at all during the day, and we'd struggle to get him to sleep at night, but he'd eventually fall asleep. He might have woke up once or twice in the middle of the night, and we'd give him his bink then, but that was all. Then he got sick. He got a snotty/runny nose, which was probably his second cold ever. So in order for him to feel better, he wanted and needed the bink for comfort. So we gave in and gave it to him. He was sick for just under a week, so all of our bink-free progress went out the window. Since then, he wants it all.the.time. We think he realized that we were starting to take it from him, so now he whines and cries all the time for it. It's probably going to be ten times harder to take it from him now. I hate to say it, but he's just so hard to deal with when he doesn't have his bink. We're going to have to figure out a new plan of action in the next few months. Maybe I'll try cutting the tip off his binkies, which I've heard can work. Oy vey.

This past weekend, Cael and I took a fun little vacation to PA. We went to Sesame Place. This was a group get-together with 10 other Peas from the mom's group I'm in (the group that goes back to Dec 2010/Jan 2011, when we all found out we were pregnant). We came from all over - Ohio, New Jersey, and Kentucky even! It was amazing! Cael loved it, and actually didn't freak out too bad when we went to take pictures with the Sesame characters. He wasn't too fond of the dry rides, and nestled into me when we were on them. But he LOVED the water park area. It took him a few minutes to warm up to all the people and splashing that was going on around him, but after he did, he had so much fun. I can't wait to bring him to another park, but this time with Matt.

I haven't done this (either at all, or in a while), so I figured I'd do it. Some stats/current info regarding Cael:

Current clothing size: 18-24 months for the most part. He has some 2 year old/2T shirts, but they don't fit him yet. They'll be perfect for towards the end of summer. 

Current diaper size: we use the Huggies Little Movers Slip-On diapers, because they're easier for Matt to use. He's been in a size 5 in those for a while now, and probably will be for a while longer. It really makes me miss cloth diapering, though. 

Favorite food: fruit and anything with cheese! The boy loves cheese!

Favorite toy: any of his trucks. He loves to push them around at full speed, from room to room. When he's done with one truck, he'll grab another and push that around for a while. 

Favorite tv show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or the "old school" Mickey cartoons (House of Mouse); and Chuggington. 

Favorite color: He hasn't really shown any liking towards a particular color yet. 

Words he can say: still not a lot of words, but he's slowly saying more. Also, he'll say a word and then it's like he completely forgets it, and never says it again.