Wednesday, November 02, 2005

I am recruiting!

Sadly, I have not found a teaching job yet. I think that will require going back to school as Rutherford County is apparently overrun with more qualified (ie. certified) people than me. So, I am still at Domino's here in Murfreesboro where I am about to be one of two phone people. I am looking to hire another or maybe even two more people. If you live in Murfreesboro, TN, and need a job, come to the Domino's off of Northfield and apply. Please.
Quincy will soon be a year old. I can't believe that. He's so big--crawling and pulling up and talking. He's also stubborn and I can foresee terrible terrible two's on the horizon. He's not very fond of "no" and he hears it a lot. He mostly chooses to forget that he knows what it means, but if I say, put him in the playpen to keep him out of stuff, then he cries because his freedom has been taken away. He still goes right to bed like a good little baby most nights and he's a good eater. So far, the only thing he hasn't liked was Gerber's spaghetti beef and pasta and who can blame him really? It smelled like Spaghetti O's. He gagged. He is loving the juice these days. It's always in his sippy cups and he knows how to work those. He likes doing it himself. I'm pretty sure that milk will work the same way in those, but have only tried it a few times. The only problem with the whole juice thing is his reluctance to quit drinking and the fit he throws until it is out of his sight. That is yet another time where "no" doesn't achieve much.
Well, Quincy is in bed so I am going to go fix something to eat..

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Quincy and other stuff

So, I haven't posted in a while..nothing much has been happening. Work is the same--same people, few customers, which makes for a tedious work environment as there is very little to do while there. Let's see--I came down with some horrible illness the Saturday before last. I had fever over 101 and I haven't had one that high in years. I had forgotten how horrible that is. Quincy came down with what I thought was the same thing Sunday morning, but appparently it isn't, since he has no fever and the pediatrician says it's just congestion/drainage. He sounds bad at night and he still has no teeth. Funny thing---he was sitting on my little sister's lap tonight and usually if he is facing away from you he tries to chew on your knee--well, this time, she had her legs crossed so that her foot was within his reach so he chewed on her foot. It was pretty funny to see.
Monday was Memorial Day. My little sister went to visit the grave of my other son--Quincy's older brother. I used to look at Quincy and think---this is what Christian would have looked like at this age if he had lived and that was true up until a few weeks ago. Christian looked like a mini-version of my father--with lots of very dark hair. Quincy was born with a lot of dark hair, but that has been replaced by a lot of light brown/blondish hair so now I have to think that Christian would have looked distinctly different. I wonder if he would have been happy when his little brother came home from the hospital, happy to play with him. In my head, I can see a little boy with dark hair waving as he went to kindergarten for the first time. That would have been Christian if he were here. I hate that nature robbed him and me of that experience. It makes everything that Quincy does sort of bittersweet, because I am so proud of him, yet a few miles from here lies a little baby boy who never got to do any of the wonderful things Quincy has done so far and will do as he grows. I was so scared when Quincy was born that he wouldn't open his eyes because his older brother never opened his. Quincy's birth was so frightening for me because of that and holding my sweet boy who moved and breathed was very, very different from holding my first son. It's hard not to compare what I am experiencing now with what could have been.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Hmmm..well...I've decided that no one reads this

Since that is the case, I can say anything I want about anybody. Well, really, I always could, but there were people from work reading this (Abby where are you?) and now there aren't so I won't feel bad complaining about irritating co-workers. I've decided that, when you're young, drama seems to be the way to go for some people. Create drama, cause drama, have it in your life--these are all situations that scream, "Someone pay attention to ME," "Someone value ME (presumably, because no one does)." All of that is just sad. Life is just too short to be so keyed-up all the time. Relaxation and taking it all one day at a time are important. If you ask my boss, she'll say that good customer relations are important and, right now, I'm not sure we have that at Domino's in Murfreesboro. I mean, come on, a little rudeness can go a long way towards getting rid of customers and if you let every person with sub-par intelligence who calls a place of business upset you, then you are asking for a heart attack. I think customers are important, but they aren't anything to get stressed over. I also don't think that doing my job is a huge imposition. I mean, yeah, I don't get paid enough, but really nobody thinks they make enough. I'm still not going to spend over 50% of my time on the clock sitting on my ass in the manager's office. I refuse to get stressed out over this. Essentially, I refuse to care what other people around me do at work. Karma gets everyone in the end. I just wish the boomerang would hurry up and smack this person upside the head. I want to watch. Is that mean?

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

haven't posted in a while

but that's because my son has grown and now naps less so I had to catch up on sleep at the times when I was previously posting on here. Now, he has settled into about two naps a day---one morning and sometimes another mid-morning or late afternoon and he's sleeping all night as long as his teething isn't bothering him too much. He is growing--he's up to close to 20 pounds now I think and he's 5 and a half months old.

Work is about the same....the same incompetent people, the same ungenerous tipping customers. Only thing is, now the incompetent people are sometimes belligerent too which makes them a real joy to work with. Sometimes the tension is so high it gives me a headache and there's way too much drama in the air.

Things look promising on the finding another job front. I have found several open teching positions here in Rutherford County and hope to be able to fill one of them in the Fall. If not here, then in another county close by---there are positions pretty much all around here since Middle Tennnessee is such a fast-growing area.

well---since I spoke of sleep earlier, it's really time for me to eat something and get some rest--Quincy might be up by 5 a.m. but I sure hope not...

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

haven't posted in a while

I haven't posted in about a week. Quincy started waking up at the indecent hour of 3 a.m. and thought that it was time to be up for the day everytime he did it so I had to start going to sleep earlier. He's sleep to the more agreeable hour of 6 a.m. the last few days though and, being an optimist, I choose to believe he'll do that tonight. Having said that, he probably won't. *sigh*

There's really been very little going on around here. Quincy is eating carrots now and loving them, but they are so messy. I could see them on his face today even after I wiped them off. He had an orange carroty mustache. It was kind of cute, but not as cute as the little mohawk he had when he woke up from his nap last night. I had to take a picture of that to show his daddy. Speaking of my husband, today was his birthday which means that mine is getting close also. His is 8 days before mine. I don't know if we'll do anything this year though or not. It's our first birthdays together as a married couple. Last year, we were just dating and had just found out that we were expecting so we were kind of in shock on both of our birthdays. This year, we have Quincy so we'll probably just eat dinner together or something. We used to watch movies a lot, but I lost the ability to stay awake through one while pregnant and haven't regained it yet. Sometimes I have trouble staying awake to eat dinner--it depends on how demanding Quincy has been that day. Some days he's a little angel--others, he's just the opposite, but that's ok.

Speaking of dinner, I should make some and eat because I'm already sleepy..

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Shhhhhhh---Quincy is asleep

After a really stupid move on my part, Quincy is asleep in his crib--finally. The old saying, "Never wake a sleeping baby,"---yeah, that's true---don't--you'll regret it for hours. See, Quincy normally drinks about 28 ounces of formula a day so, when he'd had 24 and a half at 7:30 and fell asleep, I put him down on the couch thinking he'd wake up hungry in a haour or so. I didn't consider the bath or the large amount of cereal and applesauce he'd consumed plus his milk. He was still asleep at 10 pm which is is when I got the bright idea to wake him up and change his diaper---which wasn't wet, but taking it off really did wake him up so I had to give him a bottle. After a little over 6 ounces, he just wasn't going to sleep, but he wasn't sucking anymore either, so out came the pacifier, which pacified but also--no sleep. So we rocked--sleep, finally---I stood up to put him down and open popped the eyes--back in the rocking chair, more rocking and a really awkward time standing up--I must have sat weird--but he stayed asleep and he still is. I'm excited....

Oh--my sister took he exam to get into nursing school for the second time today---she had trouble with the fractions and algebra the first time--and scored a 91, which should assure her a place in this year's class. I'm excited about that, too.

Abby the cat is back to normal---she attacked me twice Saturday while I was there--or maybe it was Friday--the days run together these days. My point is--she's evil again. Abby the person is on her second Spring Break because the school she's student teaching at is out next week. She went home to Wisconsin, where I believe it's snowing, which can't be good for her recently recovered from pneumonia, but she's there anyway..

oh well, time to eat some of the tollhouse cookies my husband baked for me this afternoon..

Friday, March 18, 2005

My poor sweet baby

Poor Quincy! He had his four month shots today and he doens't know what hit him. He's been mostly sleeping since the shots, but I had to wake him up to change a diaper before he went to bed so, of course, he woke up. He's in there now sounding like he's crying in his sleep, but I keep checking and his eyes are closed and he's still. He's very feverish though and that, along with the pain, is making both him and me miserable.

So my comments setting on here was messed up. I forgot to set it for non-members which means Abby couldn't make comments. It is now fixed for those people who think I need to get a life (Abby and Rachel!).

Let's see--what's happened in my life today? Umm---I stayed awake this morning while the baby napped to watch "The View" :). Very exciting. I found out why I missed "Survivor" last night--it's on Wednesday nights because of the March Madness basketball stuff and my favorite person got sent home this week on the one episode I've missed. I only follow that show, "Medium," "The View," and "Days of Our Lives"--which has gotten ridiculous with all of this Dimera crap. Some good guy needs to take out Tony Dimera and set all of his captives free so they can go back to Salem and quit torturing each other and the viewers. Everytime I think someone might escape, they don't---or they do and they get brought back---which is what it looks like is going to happen to Jack---who made it all the way back to Salem--ugh.

Also, I went to work today---not that it was exciting though we did get busy for a while. I know we're busy when I have to keep answering the phone and can't move away from it to go wander the store or do other tasks--like put tickets on boxes or make breadsticks and such. Tonight, I had trouble getting away from the phone so we were busy even though Abby went home at 7 o'clock. Rachel--who is a manager---had very little time to get change for people because she was so busy making pizzas also.

That's pretty much been my day--I walked my dogs--the big one didn't run off for once--and my husband woke up and got up around noon so I got to see him while conscious---yeah, that was about it----

Thursday, March 17, 2005

sleepy Abby update

ok Quincy is asleep....which is where I'd like to be but I am waiting on the chicken to boil for a casserole my husband wants for dinner so here I am...sleepy and all.

Both Abby's are doing well. Abby the person feels better and is no longer having to drive a long way to student teach because she got a new assignment here in town for 6 weeks or so---I think. Not having to get uo so early to drive so far probably is helping her to heal faster. Abby the cat has been all medicined up and is almost perky though not back to her normal hateful self yet.

On another familial note--besides Abby the cat--my grandfather had knee replacement today, but is doing okay last I heard. The surgery took longer than expected because he was slightly bow-legged and the replacement knee has to go on perfectly straight so they had to shave off some of the bone. He is in no pain thanks to a morphin drip, but it is making him nauseous and so he is on medicine for that. He should get through the night ok though they are talking about having him up in some sort of chair device tonight which seems awfully early to me, but then I was up walking 3 or 4 hours after Quincy was born so what do I know...

Nothing else going on around here..

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Whew--this Mommy business....

oh my gosh I'm tired. Quincy has always been a wonderful little napper who falls asleep as soon as he is full. Well, the solid food seems to have cancelled that out somehow. Now, he never wants to fall asleep. It's not that he's not tired--he is--he just refuses to close his eyes without putting up a tremendous fight. Today, after a half hour of rocking, he was dead asleep so I assumed I could put him in his crib. Silly me! His head touched the crib mattress and his eyes popped right open. He even looked refreshed. 20 minutes later, he was screaming at the top of his lungs again. I finally took him for a truck ride, which worked, except I really did need to go to the store so I dropped him at my parents where he woke up and was still awake when picked up. I thought that since the riding in the truck worked once, it would work again. He yawned all the way home, but the eyes never closed. So then I thought a bottle might do the trick. Wrong again! After much walking, he did fall asleep for about 45 minutes but I didn't dare put him down so my arm fell asleep also and, when that happened, I did put him down where he was--the couch. You might wonder what happened. Well, guess--that's right--the second his head touched the couch, his eyes popped open and the crying began again, although not as loud. He must have been tired by this time. Now, 2 tablespoons of baby cereal and 6 1/2 ounces of formula later, Quincy is in his crib and not making a peep. And here I am hoping it will last!

I wasn't the only one around here who had a trying day. My husband and I have this little blue car that he's had forever. He fixes it about every three months normally because something else breaks. He just finished rebuilding the engine a few months ago and was driving it regularly when one of the back bearings got too hot and welded itself to the car. That took 5 days and multiple trips to Autozone and a junkyard to fix, but it was fixed--he said---so he drove it to work. 45 minutes later, while the baby was screaming, he called and said that he was having to brake about a quarter mile before he had to stop and that the same wheel was grinding. So now the little blue car is sitting in the driveway--again--and he is driving the truck. He does think he knows what's wrong with it.

Well Quincy's refusal to sleep left me napless also so I'm taking a nap since he should be down for a while and is hopefully out til morning *crossing my fingers*

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Work Work Work

I really need a job using my English degrees because Domino's frustrates me tremendously some nights. i mean, it's an easy job basically except some of the customers are enough to make you swear off customer service forever and some of my co-workers make me think we need higher standards in hiring. We'll take almost any warm body it seems. It's amazing we ever get anyone applying though because you can make more working at McDonald's and the hours are probably better. Murfreesboro is such a restaurant-oriented town that food service is a major employment field here and our government wonders why the average income is so low?

I was in academia before working pizza full time, but I couldn't continue that with the pregnancy since I spent about three months on bedrest and then didn't work until he was around 6 weeks old. That was just after New Year's and the new semester began January 12, plus, due to the Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee Government in general, the higher education budget is very bad so there isn't much hiring going on and TBR voted to lower graduation standards, eliminating some key English classes previously required and, subsequently, lowering the number of part-time faculty required to teach such classes. After all, full-time faculty are guaranteed so many classes to teach a semester so they get first pick.

Ahh well--all of this is giving me a headache and I'm hungry so it's time to go find something to eat in the kitchen and check on baby Quincy. Hopefully he's watm enough. I did a stupid thing before work--I turned off the heat because it was hot in here anf forgot to turn it back on when I left at 3pm. My husband, being warm-natured anyway, didn't notice anything amiss with the heat when he left for work 2 hours later so I got home with the baby around 10 pm and it was 63 degrees in here. I think it's up to 67 now, so I'm having something warm for dinner..

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Mommy the Mechanic

Well, it's been a successful day in Quincyland. He ate all his cereal (I fed him in a different position than usual and it worked better). I actually fed him in his car seat because it leans back and it left me with both hands free. My sister has been feeding him in the same position and it was working for her. Soooooooo..after much wrestling with parts and screws and screwdrivers, the high chair is in position. I offer no guarantees that it won't fall apart when he sits in it. Unfortunately, he fell asleep while I was putting it together since it took a while to do and no one helped but the dog, who was very little help. I can't wait to try it out. Should make for interesting video.

I'm very excited about this whole baby eating solids thing. He's got the cereal part down pat now so it's time to move on to the veggies. I'm introducing sweet potatoes to Quincy on Saturday. That sounds odd---as if I am going to say, "Hi, Quincy, these are sweet potatoes," and the mushed up orange potatoes (definitely not a day to wear white) will say, "Nice to meet you Quincy. I hope you enjoy eating me." I think I messed up the tense somewhere in there. Anyway, you get the picture.

The bad thing, or not so bad thing, is that I have to work Saturday night so after he eats his veggies, he'll be going to stay with my sister who will probably get to see the results in his diaper and I'll get a phone call at work about the strange color and consistency of his poop. Amazing how important that is in baby world. It will probably be ths funniest thing I hear all night.

Everyone at work has been in a pissy mood lately. Several people don't want to do their jobs so it's left to all the others to pick up their slack. It would be ok if this was consistent, but some nights some people want to work and other nights, the same people do next to nothing but whine. Not that I should excempt myself from the same accusations. I can just take my own whining better than I can other people pouting and slammimg things around. On a positive note, Abby should be back to work this friday and that will be good. Her antibiotics are working very well and I don't think she missed hardly any school so she should still get to graduate on time.

As for Abby the cat, she has x-rays and urinalysis and blood work done and, while the x-rays didn't show too much odd, the urinalysis came with weird liver enzymes and the blood work showed nothing so they think she had an allergic reaction to her food. So now she's eating hypoallergenic food like a starving little cat. It remains to be seen whether that fixes her problem...

time to try out the high chair---Quincy is awake..

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Quincy the little wonder

My son really is just a little amazing thing. 3 1/2 months ago he came into the world and just blinked at it and took it all in. Now he can do so much. He sleeps 8 or 9 hours a night. He started out eating a 1/2 ounce at a time--now he eats eight at once sometimes. He can smile and laugh and make random little sounds that sometimes sound remarkably like words.

He started eating cereal on Saturday and today was the first day I've noticed him anticipate it. I said, "Quincy, it's time for your cereal," and he just smiled this morning. He ate all that he wanted and then pushed the spoon away. I can't wait until he eats vegetables and fruits. He has a very expressive face and I want to see what kind of expressions he'll get when he tries the different tastes available to him---which aren't many for first foods--about seven vegetables and five fruits--still, they'll be a big change from formula and rice cereal, which is pretty much formula in paste form.

He has two little nubby places on his bottom gum now that will be teeth. The poor little thing cries sometimes because they hurt and he doesn't know why they're in his mouth. He just licks them and licks them trying to decide what's there.

I wish he'd stop scratching at his face. He loves to touch his face and his hair or my face and my hair also, but he doesn't scratch me, just pulls my hair. He scratches himself and he currently looks like he got the bad end of a fight with my parents cat---if she had claws anyway. She's all better by the way--somehow she seems to have healed herself...

oh well the laundry is done--time to put it in the dryer---

oh, if you have time, check out http://giantbelly.blogspot.com for pictures of one of the cutest baby girls I have ever seen...

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Update on Abby

So the E.R. here doesn't know what they're talking about. They life flighted Abby to Vanderbilt for nothing terribly serious. It's not an aneurysm. It's pneumonia. She is being transferred out of ICU and into a regular room as I post this and, hopefully, she'll get to come home and finish out the semester and graduate. Yay!!!!!

A Bad Day for Abby's

yes, that says Abby's not Arby's although I am thinking about lunch....

Anyway, yesterday was a bad day for the Abby's in my life--Abby the Cat and Abby Brueggen. Abby the Cat, who belongs to my sister, cannot hold down anything and has been sick every three hours or so. She has a colon condition and won't eat or drink, but is acting normal. Well, pretty normal. That cat is evil most of the time. She bites, she corners, and she chases. She's also sneaky and she ambushes me. I usually have to have a blocker to get past her. Last night, I got within 2 feet of her and she stayed where she was. That's unusual.

Abby Brueggen is my friend from work. She lives here, but is from Wisconsin. She had a stroke 2 years ago and has phlebotomies and such things regularly. Last night, she wasn't feeling well and went to the local E.R. They wanted to send her straight to Nashville for surgery and life flighted her to Vanderbilt, where. after some tests, they found that it was not as bad as they had initially thought. They thought she has a bleeding vein near her heart. Last I heard, it was an aneurysm, but has not burst so they have her on medication and her oxygen levels are up. She was supposed to graduate in May and was very excited. She'll be discouraged by this setback.

It seems like everywhere I turn someone has a cough. My father, who is an avid bicyclist and will ride in weather from 110 degrees to 10, has been coughing for days and is still out riding his bike this afternoon. I don't really blame him though. It's about 65 degrees outside and lovely.

well, time to do some laundry, make some lunch, wake up the husband, and go buy a high chair.....

Once in a while you get shown the light...

in the strangest of places if you look at it right. Someome wrote that on a wedding card to my husband and I. It's a Grateful Dead lyric, but it rings very true for me. I knew my husband for 2 years before we began to date and fell in love with him the first time he held my hand. One kiss and I knew.

The pregnancy scared me though. I had a son in August of 1999 who was stillborn and I knew he'd be stillborn so you'd have thought I'd be prepared, but despite reading all about grief I wasn't. I had nightmares for 2 years that he was crying in the dark and couldn't find his way out and didn't understand why I placed him in that cold dark box. It seemed he always pleaded to get out and asked me again and again to hold him and he never changed or got any bigger. He always looked like a miniature version of my father. The nightmares stopped after a while only to return briefly once I got over the shock of finding myself pregnant. First, I was afraid my baby would have no heartbeat. Then, when there was a heartbeat, I was certain he'd have to same afflictions as my previous son who had a heartbeat right up until delivery. Despite assurances that this baby was healthy and perfect, I always expected something to happen. Then the heartbeat disappeared while I was in labor and they said I was losing too much blood. They were all ready to set up for an emergency c-section when the internal monitor picked up the heartbeat strong and true. A short time later, there was my baby looking about like he wanted to learn everything about the world at once.

I'm not sure where I was going with this except to say that I think it's a miracle every time I look at my son and my husband. They are both amazing people...

Saturday, March 05, 2005

an accomplishment I forgot

forgot to mention..Quincy ate his cereal today and it actually went down. That may not be exciting to most, but to me it's a big deal. I've been waiting for him to be ready for cereal and now he is. He wasn't particularly patient about it. He screamed between every bite because I didn't shovel it in fast enough and he wanted it to flow as quickly as the milk does.

Oh well, the laundry is done....

susan

First Post

Well, my sister has a blog so, after reading hers, I thought I'd post one also. Hmmm, it's 10 a.m. It's very quiet with only the laundry going and the hum of the computer and baby m onitor. Odd how 4 a.m. used to be my quiet time. Then I had a baby and that's one of the many things that has changed. Since he began sleeping through the night, 4 a.m. is my sleep time, too. Actually, I am the only one awake now. My husband, being a night owl, stayed awake until baby Quincy woke up at 6 a.m. and then went to sleep and Quincy ate his cereal, took his bottle, and went limp in my arms a half hour ago. Soooo..it's just me and the dogs...

What to do today? Go to the store, drop Quincy off with my sister, go to work, pick him up. come home. That's about it. I look forward to going to the store. My life started revolving somewhat around food while pregnant--due to an obsession with the Food Network no doubt--so going to the store is always fun and, for practical purposes, Quincy needs formula.

Other than that, I have to work today. Not really something to look forward to though. It might be if they paid me well or it was busy enough there to keep boredom at bay. Since neither of those things holds true, it sucks. I work at Domino's and pizza is not my life. However, my husband works there too and he works tonight so I get to see him during one of the rare times when neither of us is sleepy. I need a job that I enjoy. Preferably one using my degrees. Teaching would be nice, but, since having Quincy, I think that it would be nice to work with babies. I like being around them. i just don't want to bring more home. However, day care is out of the question. First of all. they don't pay well and secondly, I don't want to bring home germs to Quincy and, third, I have no desire to be in a roomful of 2 year olds. I'm not even sure how anyone ever manages to take care of more than one child, let alone a room filled with them. That said--I should go get my son's laundry out of the washer and put it in the dryer, wake up the husband, and head to the store....

susan