So much to be thankful for

So it's been a while since I've had the chance to do an update! Time just seems to slip away from me and I am discovering that having only two week days free to do all my normal chores means no left-over time to do anything else! Work is going better now though. I have learned who most everyone is and where most everything is which makes things much easier since I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off wasting time trying to figure out where the extra wheelchair cushions are (hint: it's no-where near where the extra wheelchairs are kept!) or who I need to talk to about the fact that my patient just puked all over the place. So I'm settling in and figuring things out. I still feel like I have no clue what I'm doing half the time, but I reckon it will come with practice and as I learn by trial and error what works and what doesn't. It would be nice to have lots of time to do some continuing education, but I just don't. I do have a goal to schedule out when I am going to get my CEUs in though because it has to happen sometime! Maybe when we're on Christmas break I can figure it out!

Anyway, so life is busy, and our little man is just a very busy little man too! He pulls up to everything now and cruises along furniture, walls, people, etc. Haha. He also likes to climb on top of things and then yell for us to come help him because he has no clue how to get down except diving off head first- which he still tries occasionally! Thankfully other than a few bruises his crazy exploits haven't led to any more serious injuries. But yeah, this little guy just has so much energy! He loves to bounce and bang on things and wrestle away from us whenever we try to get him to hold still for a second so we can change his diaper or his clothes. He drives me a little crazy sometimes, (ok maybe a lot crazy!) but he is also sweet and forgiving and cuddly (as long as he sets the terms of the cuddles- namely that he gets to climb us and then blow raspberries on our neck or shoulders! haha). I love his curiosity and his determination- even though that means he very determinedly fights me if I'm trying to get him to do something he doesn't like. And I love how enthusiastic he is about food! We have started giving him lots of finger foods now and he shoves pretty much everything in his mouth with enthusiasm. We have to give him only a few pieces at a time or he will just keep stuffing his face and forget to chew!

Levi has also decided that he now hates bottles and will downright refuse to drink them! Which put us in a bit of trouble with the nanny for a while because he just wouldn't drink anything the whole time I was at work which made him grouchy and of course was distressing for the nanny. I was really stressed for a while about Levi getting dehydrated while I was gone and/or our nanny quitting on us for having to deal with such a stubborn and grouchy baby! But over Thanksgiving when we were with my family we started to teach Levi how to use a sippy cup and he has gotten pretty good at it now. So now the nanny doesn't even bother trying to offer him a bottle and instead he just gets water and apple juice in a sippy cup and eats solids while I'm gone and then nurses when I'm home. It works ok I think. It does mean he still wakes up at night to nurse to make up for the calories and hydration he missed during the day, but I don't really see a way around that for now. And I tend to do remarkably well with fragmented sleep thank goodness.

So yeah, about Thanksgiving. It was wonderful! We drove down to California Monday night and thankfully Levi slept almost the entire way. We got to spend the whole week just hanging out with my family and eating. :) We went and saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which was pretty good and played a lot of games. Levi loved having a new house to explore and lots of people around to hold him and play with him. He had his first experience with stairs- in which he decided to explore them by crawling down head first! Thankfully grandma was right there with him to catch him. It is always so rejuvenating to be at home and away from my to-do lists and get to just relax and be with my family. Here's some pictures from the week we were there:

Levi loves to climb all over us!

 

Levi and Auntie Katie playing outside together

So usually Levi loves food but for some reason on Thanksgiving he had no interest in eating! It was like the one and only time that has ever happened! He did manage to smear yams and pumpkin all over himself though! I don't think this picture even does it justice. He even had it in his ears! I just took him and plopped him in the bath right after dinner. 

Levi loves playing grandma and grandpa's piano! 

 We got to stay in California all the way until Saturday night when we drove back again through the night. And thankfully Levi again slept pretty much the whole way which was great but meant that although Eric and I were exhausted on Sunday, Levi was well rested and ready to play! So Eric and I took turns taking naps and somehow we made it through. And then this past week has been life as usual! Levi's bottom two teeth broke through last week and they are adorable! He keeps reaching his fingers into his mouth to feel them! Haha. It was a rough couple of days at the start of last week when they were first coming in- he woke up like 5 times one night! But he's back to his normal happy self now and with two new pearly whites to show for it :)

I was looking through pictures that we've taken over the last month and pretty much all of them are Levi getting into something or climbing on something! I feel like that sums up life pretty well lately! So here they are, enjoy!

Levi and Arlo (the nanny's son) in the double stroller we got together so that she can take them on walks more easily. She says they like it and I think they look so cute together! Almost like twins although Arlo is actually 2 months older than Levi. I'm excited to see them grow together and really become friends. 

Levi likes to play with papers so when I bring in the mail I usually give him the junk mail to play with while I go through the rest of it. 

He climbs shelves

And over and through the kitchen chairs

The dishwasher is one of his favorite things to try to climb into. As soon as he hears us start to load or unload dishes he rushes over to try to get in on the action!

He also recently figured out how to open the wipes case and pull out all the wipes! He was soo proud of himself!

Levi loves to go shopping- so many new people to see! 

 

One of Levi's favorite places to play is at the bathtub. He loves to bang on it and play with the shower curtain. Soon he's going to figure out how to climb into the bathtub I don't doubt! 

When we pulled out the box of Christmas decorations yesterday so we could get all into the festive spirit, the first thing Levi did was climb on top of the box. I bet if we put this kid in front of a climbing wall he would be up it so fast! He's fearless. 

Fall Pictures

I've been dying to get outside and snap some fall pictures of Levi before all these beautiful leaves turn brown and today it stopped raining long enough for me to get my chance! Levi was super grouchy all day today but you would never guess it from these pictures. He loved to get outside and crawl all around in these leaves and try to eat them! It was so fun to capture a few of these moments with my expressive little man! And his super blue eyes just melt my heart :)

Love this mischievous little face!

Caught in the act!

May the Force be with you

So my mom recently came up for another visit last week. We are so lucky that she lives (relatively) close and is free to come see us so often! Levi adores her and gets so excited when he sees her. I love that they are developing a close relationship.

Unfortunately, the day that my mom came up, Levi came down with croup. We actually ended up having to take him to the hospital on Wednesday night because he was having a hard time breathing. Thankfully his oxygen saturation was still pretty good so they were able to just give him some oral steroids and send him back home with us. It was a long night, but by morning, the steroids and Tylenol were helping and over the next few days he got slowly better. He still has a bit of a runny nose and cough but not the scary croupy cough anymore.

While my mom was here she volunteered to watch Levi so Eric and I could go out and celebrate my new job! We went to Ruth's Chris and it was absolutely fabulous. Of course the food was amazing: good steak, lobster mac n cheese, harvest salad and cheesecake: can you say yum?! And I just love eating at nice restaurants where the servers always refill your water as soon as it starts to get a little low and yet they don't bother you with always popping over and asking questions. They let you take your time and I just love that leisurely pace of eating, especially since our mealtimes now include a go-go-go little man who LOVES food but wants you to give it to him NOW and can't quite handle a spoon on his own yet. We've started finger foods with him, but he's still getting most of his solids in puree form which means one of us has to feed him. Which is fine, but doesn't exactly make for a relaxing dinner environment! So going out and spoiling ourselves was wonderful.

On Saturday was our ward Halloween party! Our family dressed up as Star Wars characters, inspired by the amazing Holly's perfect gift of little Yoda ears for Levi. I was Rey from The Force Awakens and Eric was Luke from the Degoba scenes carrying the cutest little Yoda ever on his back. Our ward was very enthusiastic and I was super impressed at the percentage of people dressed up! Almost everyone including the adults was in costume! So fun!

He was so happy to be Yoda!

Mom found a cape at Goodwill that she loved and had to get to be a magician. Levi thought her hat was pretty cool too. 

I painted my bedside table (finally- we've only had it unfinished for almost four years!) so you can see Levi playing with the drawer of it here in this picture. 

In other news, I'm kind of getting used to working. Things are still pretty stressful as I am trying to learn the ropes of the facility still, in particular how to work well with the CNAs. We've had some communication issues, disagreements about how certain patients should be transferred and I've been stuck doing some things that shouldn't be part of my job which is frustrating. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to track down a commode that actually has a back or a wheelchair AND leg rests that match it AND a cushion that will fit it when they are all stored in different areas of the facility and none of it is organized! Drives me a little crazy and I haven't even worked a full three weeks yet! But we just got a new Director of Rehab so hopefully she can work with the nursing home staff to get some of these issues taken care of. And I'm sure things will go more smoothly as I learn better where everything is and who to ask about what issues. I feel like it will all work out eventually but the growing pains are uncomfortable! 

Levi regularly crawls under our kitchen chairs and then gets stuck which is very frustrating to him. I have to say, this is how I feel sometimes at the end of a particularly difficult day at work! 

Some good news about work though is that I am finding it easier to meet my productivity standards as I figure things out. And I did have a patient get discharged yesterday who came to the gym before he left to especially thank me and the OT for helping him. That is always so nice, and makes me feel like I'm doing my job right. Also, Eric and I hired a nanny! Yay! so now we don't have to search any more and I feel like she will be a really good fit for our family. So life is good and I am just so grateful for my sweet little family and all the blessings that we have been given.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go!

So I started back at work last week and I've already got some good stories to tell! I'm working in an interesting setting: a skilled nursing facility that unfortunately is one of those places people end up in when nobody knows what else to do with them. I have a lot of patients who were homeless prior to their hospitalization so many of my patients have a... complicated history. Years of mental illness, alcohol and drug abuse and traumatic brain injuries lead to a distinct lack of filters and honestly just some really interesting conversations. It's fun, you never know what they are going to say! Here's a couple gems from the week:

While checking a patient's heart rate and oxygen saturation:

Patient: "Well, you know, my heart always beats faster around you!"

Me: "....... ok." 

One of my Spanish speaking patients had a broken nail and so he asked me to cut it with some scissors. I told him no, but that I would let the nurse know about it so she could help him. Unfortunately my Spanish is out of practice and for some reason the word that came out of my mouth for "nurse" was actually the word for "priest!" So in essence I told my patient that I would let the priest know about his broken nail! And the worst part was that I didn't even realize my error until the next day! No wonder the patient looked so confused! Face palm. 

Anyway, getting back to work has been good. Challenging but good. It's stressful being in a new facility and trying to meet the productivity standards and learn the new documentation system and learn where everything is, and who everyone is and just how the system works there. But I think once I get more settled it will turn out to be a good place for me and the commute is easy and the hours are just right. 

We are still nanny hunting so Eric has been taking care of Levi on the days that I work. This means I get some really awesome father-son pics sent to my phone occasionally throughout the day. Like this one:

With the caption: "I didn't choose the thug life, the thug life chose me" Hahahahaha

When I'm not at work, I am trying to make the most of my time with Levi. Today, we went to the zoo with some of my girl friends and their kiddos. It is so much fun because there are two girls in my ward with babies almost exactly the same age as Levi. It is just so fun to watch the babies interact and see how they are similar and different. And us ladies get along great too so that's just the best. I am really grateful they moved into the ward so we could be friends. 

Levi maybe had more fun watching the people than the animals but that's fine with me since it means I got lots of these cute smiles!

The whole group together. The babies were pretty done by this point and ready to go home for naps!

Also, Eric and I took Levi to Portland's Apple Festival on Saturday and that was a lot of fun! We tried a bazillion different types of apples, learned some random facts about apples (apparently in ancient Greece if a man tossed an apple to a lady it was considered a proposal of marriage and if she caught it it meant she accepted! True? We may never know haha!), and got to meet some cool, very Portland-y vendors selling things like cold-pressed, unpasteurized juices. Also I got to take this very awesome picture: 

Cutest farmer and rooster ever!

I can hardly wait till Levi is old enough to do all of the other fun kids activities they have at places like the apple festival: painting pumpkins, playing with hula hoops, jumping off of hay bales, etc. I know it will come so fast though and I am treasuring this time that my sweet baby is still so little. 

A preview of Levi's Halloween costume! Cutest yoda ever!!!

He has gotten pretty speedy at his army crawling. He loves to go all over the house, tug on any cords he can reach, make "music" by banging on the vents, and coming up to me or Eric and sucking on/blowing raspberries on our feet! 

 

Levi and I love to go to the park together and hang out: sunny day, fall leaves, a good book and my sweet baby make for a perfect afternoon. 

I'm pretty sure he is just the cutest thing that has ever happened. Love my little man!

New Season, New Beginnings

So apparently it is now officially fall. Here in Portland, the weather has turned cooler again and the misty rains have returned. Fall is my favorite season and October is my favorite month of the year so I welcome it joyfully. I love how crisp the air gets in the fall, I love the colors of the leaves, I love the excuse to make pumpkin bread, I love the freshly picked apples. Basically it's just the best.

This fall is bringing with it some changes for our family. I've accepted a committed PRN job with Infinity Rehab. I will be working M, W, F splitting my time between three different skilled nursing facilities (although I will be spending most of my time at the Oregon City one). It's not my ideal setting for work, but it's a good fit for our family: 20-24 hours a week, I get to set my own hours for the most part, there's a good mentorship program, the commute is decent and the pay is good. I feel like it's time for me to get back to work and finally use those skills I worked so hard to develop and learn but at the same time, I definitely have moments where I can't believe I will be gone from my baby for so much time. The first thing I did after I accepted the position was scoop Levi up and snuggle him for a long time. We've been so lucky that I've been able to spend so much time with him and it's hard to give that up even though we think it's the right thing for our family right now. I'm excited about this opportunity but I'm also kind of freaking out. Freaking out that I've forgotten everything about being a PT and freaking out about finding a good nanny for Levi (we are still searching right now). I'm interested to see how Levi will adjust and a little apprehensive of how this change will affect his sleeping, and whether I will be able to keep breastfeeding him. I am really grateful though that we were able to find something part time and that I don't have to work full time. I know I am going to really treasure my Tuesdays and Thursdays, especially the nice slow mornings where we can just snuggle in bed after Levi eats breakfast. I reckon that won't be happening much on M, W or F once I start working.

Eric continues his job hunt. While it is frustrating that we have had so little luck on that front, I'm glad he is not starting work immediately so that we have a little time to find childcare for Levi. I'm really hoping it won't be too much of a struggle to find someone we trust.

In other news, Levi started army crawling last week and is now a pro at getting all over the place! He is still pretty slow, which is perfect for me because we haven't quite finished babyproofing the house yet (oops!). He loves his new skill though and the way it lets him explore all sorts of fascinating things like the curtains, my yoga mat, and anything on the bottom shelf in our kitchen (specifically the george foreman grill and a bag of potatoes haha).

Also, Levi got his first cold this week :(. Poor thing has been sniffling and coughing and basically sounds awful. We inclined his crib mattress with some towels which I think helps- although the first time we did it we went a little overboard and when I checked on him he had totally rolled to the bottom of the "hill" haha. But he remains a pretty happy little guy despite the sickness and still gives the best smiles and giggles.

I don't have a ton of pictures lately because I've mostly done videos of all his new skills. But here's a few of life lately:

I just love my little chub! He's up to 19 pounds now!

Levi slept through the night one time. It was glorious. And it has yet to happen again, although I keep holding out hope it will. 

Levi's favorite toy: a wooden spoon and a frying pan to bang it on! 

He gets pretty proud of himself when he makes fun noises with it. 

6 Glorious Months

I cannot believe that my little baby is 6 months old already!! I feel like this past half year has just flown by. Every time I look at Levi he seems so much older. He has figured out how to get out of sitting on his own now and is trying to figure out army crawling although so far he just pushes himself backwards with his arms which is quite frustrating to him. He is also really into spitting (Which I don't love so if anyone has any tips on how to discourage that let me know!) and babbles a lot now. He has also gradually gotten better at sleeping at night and now frequently will wake up only once! It's awesome and I just hope it keeps getting better from here!

This past month has been all about introducing Levi to new foods! He is quite the eater and so far LOVES all the fruit I've given him (bananas, applesauce, pears, peaches and mango). He's a little lukewarm on most vegetables (carrots, peas, and butternut squash) but really likes sweet potato. And he hates rice cereal (although he thinks oatmeal is ok), egg yolks and avocado. I absolutely love making food for him and introducing him to new flavors! I just steam the fruit or vegetable and blend it in my blender with water or pumped breastmilk and then freeze it in ice cube trays. I like that I know exactly what he's eating and that it is fresh. The ice cubes make good serving sizes (He usually eats 3 cubes twice a day) and the sight of all those colorful cubes in my freezer makes me happy for some reason haha.

Sometimes I let him play with the mashed up food so that he can get used to having his fingers taste like food. We will introduce finger foods pretty soon here and I think he's going to love feeding himself. 

I also let him chew on the spoon when he's done. He is pretty good at getting it into his mouth the right way. 

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner the other day and one of them fed him. He had so much fun with that! He's a little flirt. :)

My mom came to visit at the beginning of this month (can't believe it's already September!! Where did summer go?!). We had so much fun with her! She adores Levi and spoils him like crazy and he just absolutely loves her. We enjoyed hanging out at the park together and of course, eating yummy food. 

Levi isn't so sure what he thinks of swings. He is a little afraid of them and shakes his arms and makes concerned noises if we go too high. But with grandma holding him and swinging gently he decided it was ok. 

 

Levi had fun watching us throw around a frisbee. Can't help but feeling like he looks slightly like an adorable bulldog haha.

 While my mom was here, she volunteered to watch Levi for a night so that Eric and I could take a quick little get-away. I am so glad we did! We found the cutest little place on Anderson Island via Airbnb and it was perfect! A short 2 1/2 hour drive and a beautiful ferry ride landed us in this little slice of paradise. So quiet and beautiful. We walked on the beach and went to dinner at the one restaurant on the island (we were the only people there under 30, pretty sure the whole island is like a little retirement community haha) and just got to enjoy our night child-free! In the morning we made waffles in the well-equipped and recently remodeled kitchen. I may have spent some time admiring their choice of backsplash, the undermount sink and the paint colors haha. Anyway it was wonderful.

It was hard to believe that this water was part of the ocean since we could see the mainland not far away but it did have a distinct, salty odor.

The beach was covered with these huge, beautiful white shells.

View from the ferry

Those are the exciting things that have been happening around here lately. Other than that our time has mostly been taken up with job hunting and just trying to enjoy every minute with out little man. I have interviewed at a couple of places and got offered a job by a school district, but they wanted to place me all the way out in Astoria and that just wouldn't work for our family so I turned them down and am still on the hunt. There are a few possibilities that both Eric and I are looking into so hopefully within the next few weeks we will both have found something that works for us. 

Anyway, here are some more random pictures, mostly of our cute little Levi! I can't believe how quickly he is growing up!

He is very cuddly and loves to be held and snuggled. :)

 

Father-son selfies! I love how Levi's foot is way up there like it's no big deal that he can just bend in half haha. 

Looking so dapper and ready for church!

Chillin' like a villain in the stroller.

In other news, I FINALLY finished re-doing those chairs that I rescued. I LOVE how they turned out even though it was a lot of work. Now I just need to find someone to buy them because let's be honest, white chairs in the kitchen of a house with kids is just a recipe for disaster haha.