Pay Day!

I am all excited because today is the last day (I hope) of poverty for us! I get my first paycheck today. Aaron and I have plans of leaving the little guy in the care of Deb and heading downtown for a fancy dinner and a night on the town. Either that or we are going shopping... but I think that can wait until Saturday and Sunday. Well, first I need to pay some bills but I think there will be enough left over that we can get a couple essentials for the apartment and celebrate too.

Thank you to everyone who has helped support us through this time and we will now start the long process of paying off our debts to you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
from Elizabeth, Aaron and Ian

Whew!

It seems to be a whirlwind since we moved down here with hardly a moment to blog. It doesn't help that I can't use the laptop when Ian is around anymore. We showed him a couple of videos on You Tube of trucks and now he is obsessed with it. I guess we couldn't keep him away from TV forever. Aaron got him a book on trucks and we haven't stopped reading it. I would say 5-10 times a day when he is in daycare and 20 times when he is home. I sorta thought that a lot of that boy girl stuff was socially transmitted but now I am not so sure.

Aaron has started work this week and if not totally in love with the place is happy enough just cause he is selling cheese. Ian is now in daycare and Mom is not totally in love with the place (and neither is Ian) but they are doing their job to the best of their abilities and Ian is safe, the kids are great and the staff is friendly. My problem is that I compare it to the level of care he was getting with Layale and Brian. I'm sure Ian misses them too.

With all of us working and Ian in 'school', life is a little hectic. Some of this I contribute to Ian not sleeping again. So I get up early and get to work, pick him up on the way home, we eat dinner and then it is off to bed for Ian and Mom follows as soon as he is asleep. Rinse Repeat. Last night he slept good so I have hope that he is settling in.

My feelings of 'hecticness' are compounded because I didn't get a weekend last week so I have now worked 12 days in a row. We had a deadline I needed to get a model done for and so I worked Sat and Sun. Oh and spent Sat night in ER. That's my bitch. I'm done now because really life is great. And we all have the weekend off - a long weekend. I don't think that that has happened since Aaron and I got married. He has Sun and Mon off and only has to work a few hours in the morning on Sat. Can't wait. My folks are coming this weekend too - so that'll be fun. Ok, time to get going to work. Just wanted to let y'all know that things are good here. We are all busy and happy.

First Emergency Room Trip in Oak Park

I was thinking it was our first ever but I remember that in Ann Arbor I went with him once when we found his ears cut and bleeding the first time. Then found out it was just the cradle cap that had migrated.

Last night while we were eating Ian put his foot on the table and gave a push. His chair tipped over with him strapped in and the back of his head hit the corner of the wall. I was comforting him and felt the back of his head and he had a huge goose egg or ridge that was probably about an inch off of his head. I freaked. We rushed to the emergency room where we waited for a couple of hours to see a doctor. They did a CAT scan just to be sure and Ian is fine. Just scared the bejesus out of his parents. And since we don't have insurance right now we paid for some very expensive peace of mind. But worth it.

We're off to church this morning. We're going to check out the Unitarian Temple that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Working Masses

I was riding home yesterday and it occurs to me that I really am just another bozo on the subway. It's official now. I am a part of the work force. One of the masses who take the train downtown, work in a cubicle in a high rise office building, never go outside all day, and then return to the suburbs at night... ahh life is good. It looks like Aaron will be opening at work which would work out really well for us. So he would be at work at 7 and be done at 3. That way he can come home, pick up Ian and make dinner so that when I get home at 5:30-6 we can eat. This is much better than me getting home at 6 and trying to frantically cook or microwave dinner with a hungry toddler clutching me.

Anyway... just a quick note... I'm off to the train!

First Day of Work

Thanks, Ian! I love you, too.

So we have arrived in Oak Park. Everything went as planned, we arrived on Saturday and unpacked the truck. We then spent about four days unpacking boxes and organizing. Aaron is ecstatic with his new kitchen. We have so much cupboard space that he currently has two empty cupboards and one empty drawer. We have put some toys in one of the cupboards for Ian. So he has someplace that is his cupboard to explore. We are really happy with the apartment and the neighborhood. There are kids everywhere! We have gotten in the habit of taking a walk after dinner and its nice to have people in the neighborhood say hi.

I hear Ian coughing right now. He caught a chill the day we went to Navy Pier (Friday). It wasn't too cold in Oak Park but down by the waterfront it was windy and chilly. Especially when we rode the ferris wheel and were 150 feet in the air. It's been unseasonably chilly all week which has put a damper on some of our exploring.

Today is my first day of my new job. They asked me to come in at 9 because my new boss had another baby (his second girl) last week and is a little groggy. I can certainly understand that! So I can't write that much... I have to go figure out what I am going to wear! I had bought a new pair of pants and a couple of shirts for work but they are all a little to light weight for a 40 degree morning. I'm excited to be starting work and nervous... I'll let you know how it goes.

Mom's Day, wirh Love

The worlds greatest Mom. Ian, being slow on the keyboard asked me to write a few things down for him on this ol' blogeroo...

Mom, I am rather keen on you. In fact I do believe you to be the very best Mom a boy like myself could ask for. You are loving, and kind, and generous, and though I am currently pushing the limits of your sanity I wanted to let you know that I do ever so truly LOVE YOU.

best regards,
your loving (albeit often irritating) son,
Ian

There you have it folks, truer words were never written.

Mother's Day Doubts

Sometimes I feel so unfit to be Ian's mom. Today I was trying to hang pictures and Ian had been all over the place all day doing things he knows he shouldn't be doing - purposefully. Specifically he was standing in the chair next to me as I was hanging photos. He knows he is not supposed to stand in chairs. Like I said - it had been a whole day of refusing to hold my hand to cross the street, taking off his pants (and diaper) in the store, putting his feet on the table at lunch... I could go on. So when he kept standing in the chair, I picked him up, set him on the ground and gave his bottom a swat. Hard enough to make him cry. This is not how I want to raise my kids. I know what his problem was - after I did it. He was just trying to get my attention. This was probably the case all day. I wish I was better at stopping the drive to get things done and could learn to play. I wish I hadn't made my son cry. I wish I didn't feel so not up to this whole mothering thing. Sometimes I wish I hadn't gotten married, hadn't had Ian. Just because life would be so much easier if I was only screwing up my own life or at least only responsible for my own. Then I feel so damn guilty for thinking this. I love Aaron, I love Ian. I wish I knew what the hell I was doing. How do you learn how to be a mother?

Moving Sucks

We are three days into serious packing and I have to say that moving sucks. Today Ian goes to Layale and Brian's to spend the day so that we can pack his room. Yesterday when we had tried to put some of his books into a box he got very upset until we took them out. So rather than go through that all day we thought it best to remove him from the house while we box up his room. I can't believe it is almost time to drive to our new home. Tomorrow we pack the truck and Saturday morning we drive. Wow. I am starting to get worried about finding daycare and all those things. And I think I got everything set up... but I keep going over the list: forward mail, change utilities, change address with school, magazine subscriptions, doctors records, etc, etc... Ian has a rash around his mouth that developed when he was sick and hasn't really gone away the doctor has looked at it and gave us cream but that was two weeks ago and it hasn't cleared, we won't have insurance for a month... should I call them today? This is just a small sample of the anxiety talk in my head. I think it is a miracle that I sleep at all. Actually I'm doing pretty good. I was in bed at 10 and up at 6:30 with an hour in between spent with Ian. Nothing to complain about - and Ian is back to only waking once a night. I'm sure that will change when we take down his crib today and he'll take some time to adjust in Chicago but it's all temporary and very easy to do when both of us aren't working.

Ramble ramble... coffee is good this morning. I am grateful that most of the packing is done. Just have to do Ian's room today and take shelves down. It has been kinda nice to have both of us home so one of us can keep Ian out of trouble (!) while the other packs. I just hope tomorrow the rain holds off until after the pack.

This is probably the last post from Ann Arbor. See you in Oak Park!