Time Flies!

Wow it's been a while!! I guess time just flies by as life happens. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Valentine's day - have all come and gone! Cael is now 2.5 years old, and he is turning into quite the young brute! He is 110% boy - everything is cars, trucks, monster trucks, planes, helicopters and trains. Being fearless, he jumps off our bed and couch. He is smart, sassy, funny and getting so big! He is rather defiant (can someone say Terrible Twos!?), the pickiest eater I have ever encountered, and is a ball of energy - going from 8 am to 10 pm without a nap! Don't judge us, we're having sleep issues. Lack of naps is only the beginning. He's currently sleeping in our bed every night, and has been for several months. Like I said, don't judge!

The last we checked, which was sometime last month, Cael weighed in (at home) at 31 pounds, and measured about 36 inches tall. Both of these are around the 60th percentile, which I'm happy about. Considering the boy doesn't eat anything good! And it's not without us trying. Basically, all he wants to eat nowadays is cereal, cookies, pancakes and pasta. More recently, we tried the Dannon drinkable yogurt, which he loves. So I'm happy he's getting some nutrition from that. We were giving him Pediasure for a while, but it made his poop green, and seemed to give him gas issues.

Speaking of poop, we started back cloth diapering a few months ago. Money has been tight, and we were out of disposable diapers, so we just started using the cloth diapers. However, we switched back to disposables about 2 weeks ago because Cael's bowels have been completely and utterly uncontrollable. Probably from his poor diet. So that made changing disposable diapers disgusting and difficult.

Matt is still a stay-at-home dad. Am amazing SAHD, might I add. He's applied to so many jobs over the past several months, and finally heard back from a local Post Office. We'll see how that goes. As for me, work is going great. I love my job and what I do with such passion, and I'm so happy I've been given the opportunity to get back into it. I'm finally feeling like I'm fitting in where I work. It's taken a while, but I guess that's to be expected when you move to a completely new place, and join a team that's been established for a while. Either way, I'm finally feeling like I'm part of the "team".

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. 

21 Weeks Old!

At 21 weeks old, Cael wants to "eat" and grab everything in his sight. He's very adventurous, and interested in everything. If I have him in my lap while I'm eating or drinking, he'll reach for my food or my glass. He also needs to keep moving, more than even before. He's definitely developing and growing more each day.

I think my supply is starting to get better. Slowly. I get about 2 ounces combined from both breasts now at one pumping session. Plus, Cael seems to be more satisfied after eating, and is taking more gulps at the breast. I've increased my water intake, which has helped, and I'm waiting for some supplements in the mail. A kind and generous mom from the September Sweet Pea group had some left over More Milk Plus and Fenugreek, so she mailed them to me. I should be getting them on Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to taking them. Hopefully it will boost my supply to what it used to be (4-5 ounces in one pumping session). I'm pumping about 4-5 times a day, so I'm also building up my freezer stash.

I should probably be building up my freezer stash, anyway, for in case I find work. The hospital up the road from us posted a per diem position for a general ultrasound position. I called on Friday and left a message for the director of the department, whom I spoke to in November when I first applied there. I'm hoping she'll call me back on Monday or Tuesday, but I'll probably just re-submit my application and apply for that position. While I hope that I get it, I would still love to continue staying home with Cael. However, if I lose my unemployment, and we have just Matt working, there's no way we'd be able to make it. We've already had to go 6 weeks with just Matt's pay, and we had negative money in the bank. It will all work out, one way or another.

Finally, I got Cael's fluffy mail. I'm so excited about it. We got a Blue Berry cover, Kawaii pocket diaper, 2 BumGenius 4.0 pocket diapers, and a GroVia cover. I can't wait to wash them all, and start using them. I've mentioned before that I won't have to do laundry as much. I'm also excited about that, too. I love the colors and prints that I got. Here's a picture of my fluffy mail. I'm just waiting for one more diaper in the mail, that I ordered for $5 off the Cloth Diaper Swap group on Facebook. It's a red Babyland pocket diaper in excellent used condition with no stains. For $5, you can't go wrong.