moving?

Lots of choices this week. An opportunity has come up to move to the Mesa/Gilbert location for Merrill Lynch. We want Jared to be closer to work, less commuting and more time with family!

Do we sell our home or rent it? We were not expecting a letter to arrive in the mail from a man who wants to BUY our home!?!? Is that an answer from God about what we should do?

Do we buy or rent a home in Gilbert? Where? Power Ranch? Can we even buy a home with a potential bankruptcy on the line? What about a possible settlement instead?

Where would we find ALL that we love about Surprise? Our beautiful home; backyard with grass and a firepit and BBQ. Marley Park with all the parks and pools. Riding bikes to school! Basha's for Daddy Donut Dates, Wal-Mart/Gym/Dr all off of Reems road! Friends!

Decisions to make. Good to have options.

Update: we are NOT moving. Jared transferred to an office here in Sun City, AZ.

Levi 8 months

Lots of slobber. Lots of tongue. Lots of bibs.

I really enjoy spoon feeding him. Seeing his tongue thrust out. His grunting of hunger.
From 5-7 months, he was ALWAYS on my hip. Now that he can sit up at 8 months, he can entertain himself on the floor with toys. One day he could barely hold his weight, and it seemed like the following day, he was sitting up!

He is also a side-winder with his slithering creepy crawl. He can slither over legs, toys and eventually get to where he wants...which is usually MOM!

Now I can have him on the shower floor with me while I shower, he can sit in his high chair with some life cereal or graham cracker and be patient while I fix dinner, or warm up his jarred food. this time around, we have free WIC food, so i don't make his food here at home. It sure is convenient to have that simplicity of a jar of baby food!

Kids love to tote him around, put him in the green papasan chair, make him giggle and just today Isaac was putting the blue toy bucket on his head for a laugh.

His dilations are now up to a size 11 and he arches his back and squeezes his butt cheeks every time I position him to change his diaper. Sometimes it is like hershey chocolate syrup squirting out at me (due to the 4 oz of prune juice he gets daily), or it's like squeezing orange carrot toothpaste out of his bum. Lots of prep as I have to gel up the thermometers, get all the extra diapers and wipes on hand in case he explodes on me, have extra clothing nearby and a towel on the carpet (learned that one the hard way).

He also has been getting daily treatments of DoTerra oils on his chest, feet and back for his congestion. He is excessively drooling, and now has the snot to go along with it. Appointment with the ENT has been made to see if this is all normal, or maybe he has something going on that makes him sound like a pug dog who snorts and sticks out their tongue.

Home sweet home

First impressions:
leaving the hospital like a free woman from jail
cool breeze, sun shining, muscles working to go up and down stairs
drive a car, start the engine, flow of traffic
lunchboxes on counter, unpacked with moldy grapes
levi's water bottle from a week ago?
no welcome home cards, get well or banner :(
"laundry" was all over the floor, what about my laundry?
fridge full of mystery food that I had never seen
papers, projects, all over table...asked me if I liked my clean house, I looked around, then he said
"the sink is clean." lol
backpacks full of papers from last weeks homework
10 towels hanging in the bathroom, really that many!

With Valentine's Day that same week, it was low key with heart shaped pancakes, a note for my hubby, and a single red rose for me. Tia Olga came from Mexico for a visit and I enjoyed her female presence and tender touch.

Anoplasty surgery

Levi couldn't poop.
It had been 6 days.
Dr young sent us to Thunderbird ER, 7 hours in ER, admittance to hospital. Keep it together mama! Not too many tears!
tv...movies...food...fun for two days...then NOT SO FUN
I felt like it was a jail cell
vitals at 4am?? Just let the little man sleep!
constant flow of people, anxious about trying to take a nap
variety of nurses, really made me appreciate the medicine behind it all
no desire to be in that field of study
nurses who loved their job, talking to me, making Levi laugh...others were there just for a "job"
Dana; scented oil, frozen wash cloth, updates, friendly demeanor
Paul; batter up, pucker the cheeks, Clean the deck, sport, very detailed
visitors: jennie, Christie, Gpa Lowe/tia Olga, Leslie/april, Jillian, Lindsey, Amy Hall
grilled salmon and asparagus salad daily (with chocolate chip cookie)
constantly holding Levi and standing
30 pedialyte in one day
made Jared sleep over for surgery...helped put him to sleep (he was fasting)