Energizing

I'll go with my verb title trend I started yesterday.  Thanks for all your prayers.  I did make it through yesterday, even though it was a little rough in one of my classes.  I went to play volleyball as well last night.  It was so much fun.  I was so tired that I debated about going, but decided I had already committed, so I better go.  I felt like I played pretty good, our team had fun together, and we had a good workout.  Jeremy had a rough go of it with Madison, but so had I the other night while he was gone.  I think she is going through a growth spurt, feeling teeth way below the surface, or trying to transition out of an evening nap.  She is just strange.  Jeremy is right though when he said last night, "You know it was hard, but it is all worth it when she smiles."  People told us that during her first 8 weeks when I was having a hard time, but I didn't understand.  Now that she smiles more readily and you know she means it (it's intentional), I do get it, and they were right.

Devastating

This morning I went downstairs to get my cereal for breakfast and make sure everything was ready to go for the sitter's.  I almost had a breakdown right there in my kitchen.  I had prepared formula and had breastmilk all bagged up the night before.  BUT I left it all sitting on the counter ALL NIGHT LONG.  I had managed to ruin 10 ounces of formula (and that stuff is not cheap) and 12 ounces of breastmilk (and that stuff is not easy to get).  I started to hyperventilate, then cry, then pulled myself together.  I never understood when mothers would say that breastmilk was like gold - totally got it this morning.  It is not just that it is a more economical way to do things than straight formula, but I have to sit beside a machine multiple times a day to get it - makes it pretty expensive if you ask me. Ugh!.  I was just to tired to think straight before bed last night.  Little lady got up for the second night in a row around 2am.  Pray for energy for me today

Bathtime

Just a few pics from last night's bath time.  She was pretty tired last night, but is starting to have fun kicking in the water. 

Weekly update

I have decided that although it nice to return to school and only have nine weeks left, it is the worst time of year - kids are ready to be done, we teachers are ready to be done, it is nice outside and you are inside, and those who have not done well all year are dejected.  That being said, I need prayers to improve my attitude and wisdom for how to address some issues with the students I teach.

It all makes seeing Madison at the end of the day all the much better.  No, she is not always a happy, go lucky baby once we are home for the night, but she usually sends some smiles my way when I pick her up.  One of these days, I will capture a smile on camera and share it with you.  We have been slacking in picture department since I came back to work.  The sitter (Emily) said she got some good pictures yesterday when her son was making Madison laugh. 

Well, that's all I have time for.  Have a great end of the week.

Birthday

Friday was my birthday.  Jeremy had talked to the neighbor (Ruth) about babysitting while we went out.  They (she and her husband) always welcome us in and like to see Madison when she is awake.  Ruth was very willing to come over for a few hours on Friday evening.  We went to the Elevator, which a restaurant in downtown Columbus.  It is a good place to eat and our first time eating there.  We came home with good reports from Ruth and a happy baby - tired one too!  Instead of going to a movie, we rented the movie Up In The Air with George Clooney.  I thought it was a pretty good movie, a little sad, but not cry your eyes out sad.  It was a good day.  Oh yeah, I had the day off school, too.  We had a new patio door installed so I took a personal day - makes for an even better birthday!  Saturday, Jeremy worked a number of projects around the house - making flower boxes among other things.  They will hopefully brighten up the outside of the house.  I worked on getting school work done.  It is probably what I should be doing right now, but this is more mindless.  Today, we went to late service so Jeremy could work with the youth service.  Then, we went out to eat with some friends we hadn't seen for awhile.  This evening, Jeremy has small group.  Madison and I will hang out and I will try to get some more school work done.  Have a good Sunday.

Making It

Just a really quick update.  Madison is sleeping from 8/9 o'clock in the evening until about 5am.  I know this seems super early to most of you, but I have to get up for school then anyway.  So, I feed her, put her back in bed, get ready for the day, and gather her up at 6:30 to head out the door.  Our child care woman is AWESOME!  I think she is doing a great job and Madison is adjusting well to the commotion that happens around her with the other two kids and dog.  I would not say we are in a groove, but this week is going better than last. I am worried about next week because I have nothing prepared for it.  I was covered for these past two weeks.  So, this weekend may be a school work weekend; we'll see.  Jeremy talked to our neighbor about babysitting so that we could go out for my birthday on Friday or Saturday night.  That was a good idea on his part - very thoughtful!  I get to stay home Friday (personal day) because we are getting a patio door installed.  It will be nice to re-live my maternity leave days!  Okay, gotta go.  Have a great rest of the week.

The Easter Dress

Here she is in her Easter dress.  It is taken this Sunday, but that's okay :)  I posted pics to the blog entry below if you want to check out the mid-riff outfit and the cousins!

Easter Weekend

This weekend was not a very relaxing time - definitely not due to family, just odd circumstances.  On the way down on Friday night, we were stuck in traffic, exited to take a different route, stopped in a church parking lot to feed Madison, left the car lights on/doors open/radio playing/etc while doing so, drained the battery, and were stuck til a high school kid came to jump our car.  The trip home took 4 hours.  Saturday, I spent most of the morning in the Wooster Hospital ER to just have lab work done to see if I had a UTI; I did: this took 3 hours.  Jeremy was also battling a cold sore (still is, actually, although it is looking better); so, he was not feeling 100%.  We were at my parents' house Friday night and Saturday morning.  Then, we headed to Jeremy's parents' house for the rest of the day on Saturday.  His brother, sister, and her boyfriend were all in town, so we wanted to hang out for awhile.  It was definitely good to see them - they were all a bit travel-weary.  On Sunday we went to my dad's church.  We arrived right on time.  As I was holding Madison in her super cute little Easter dress, she pooped.  This would have been fine had it not traveled up and out of the diaper successfully ruining her outfit.  We took her down to the church basement to rinse out dress and change her diaper.  While laying there she peed all over her changing mat and was therefore laying in pee; so much for the bath Grandma had given her.  We had brought no back up clothes, so she wore what remained - her hot pink diaper cover, white socks, and a little white sweater.  Notice in the picture she is the only cousin looking only half Easter-cute :)  It is a story to remember!  We enjoyed lunch with my family, and headed over for a few hours with the Bricker family before heading home.  Madison was much spoiled with attention and handled it really well at all locations.  On the way home, we also were stuck in traffic, exited to take a new route, and made it home in 2-1/2 hours.  The good news is Madison slept all night; we were all exhausted.  All in all it was still worth it.

Back at Work

(I wanted to post about Easter, but I don't have pics to include here at school so I'll do it later.)
I returned to work on Tuesday and life at the Yoh house is making the adjustment.  Madison slept ALL NIGHT (10pm - 7am) on Sunday night; then, Monday night she suddenly forgot that she could sleep so long.  She woke up at 1:30 and didn't go back to sleep til 3:45am.  On Tuesday night, she was up at midnight and 4am.  Finally, last night she slept from 8:30-4am.  I went back to sleep til 5:30am when I had to get up.  That is the hardest part about returning to work - physical exhaustion.  Teaching is like riding a bike - once I have the materials ready (the time consuming part), it is no big deal to teach.  No, the kids haven't suddenly become angels (although they were pretty good so far today), but it isn't hard to stand up there and talk about the subject matter.  My mom came on Monday night and stayed to watch Madison on Tuesday.  Jeremy's parents came on Tuesday night and leave tonight.  His mom has been watching her the last two days.  Madison is definitely being spoiled by grandmas right now!  Tomorrow will be our big day - we have to make sure we have everything packed up and ready to go to the sitter.  It is a woman from my church with just her two kids and one other girl two days a week.  As long as we have everything in a bag, she should be in good hands.  It is more stressful overall.  Jeremy is a trooper and is now getting up when he is needed during the night.  I didn't usually call on his help when I wasn't working because I figured he needed to get up for work; I didn't.  He folded diapers last night for me and has been helping just keep things afloat around the house.  So, that's our week - tiring and adjusting.

The Zoo

It was zoo day today.  We planned on meeting Jill and her kids at the zoo at 10:30am, and we would have made it, but...  Apparently, everyone else wanted to go to the zoo at 10:30am too.  I waited to get past the "pay for parking" area for 45 MINUTES!!!!!  It was unbelievable.  On top of that, I was almost out of gas but figured I could make it there - not if I had to sit in a line for 45 minutes.  So, I noticed I was sitting on a hill.  I turned my car off and rolled to the parking guys for the last 30 minutes of my sitting there.  Ridiculous.  By the time we got to where Jill was it was 11:30am, and her kids were ready to get home.  So, we chatted for five minutes and she left.  Madison and I went to see a few things, but the zoo is more fun with others and she was getting tired, too.  Ugh.  I guess it is good the zoo is getting so many visitors and people are out enjoying the weather and not holed up in their house.  I will just plan to go to the zoo at 9am or at noon because when I left at noon there was no line.  Here she is with the fish in the left picture and looking up, up, up at the fish swimming in the aquarium.

And a bonus picture from yesterday.  It was her first day in a dress!

 (There are two new posts below this; I have been posting in snippets today.  So, if you want keep on reading.)

Google what???

Check out this link ....
Topeka, Kansas has officially changed its name to Google, Kansas.  That completely messes up all the social studies books in the world and all of us who have tried to remember the capitals of all 50 US states.  Google, in response, has now officially become Topeka.  So, you can't "google"something anymore; you have to "topeka" it.  Whatever.

Update: After further reading, I learned Topeka just changed their name for the month of March - whew!  That would have cost school districts a lot of money to get new social studies books.  My cousin (via marriage) suggested the google change is in honor of April Fool's Day... let's hope so; I was fooled if it was.

Can't complain

Guess who got 9 HOURS OF SLEEP last night?  All of us... well, Madison actually got 9-1/2 hours.  Amazing.  She was super tired as I had taken her for a walk and shortened one of her naps due to that, and the mostly missed the evening power nap because we were grocery shopping.  She also refused to nurse last night at 7:45pm... maybe she was too tired???  Anyway, we gave her a bottle and she drank almost 5 OZ!!!  That is more than she has ever had via a bottle.  She ate at 8:30ish, went to bed around at 9:30ish, and did not peep til I went in there at 7am to get her up.  A-mazing!  We are headed to the zoo later this morning.  Hopefully I'll remember the camera and remember to take pictures.  Have a great Thursday.