Snowmobiling

Well, I survived my first trip away from Sawyer. On Wednesday Feb. 15th Marcus, I and our friends Jason and Heidi left to go snowmobiling in the Hills. Grandma Nanon came to stay with Sawyer and even though I knew they would be just fine and have a lot of fun, the week up to leaving was horrible. On the actual day of leaving I was good, but the whole week of anticipation up to leaving was not good. We had a lot of fun on our trip with a few minor bumps along the way. Marcus started out his trip sick, and on Thursday I got to ride 26 miles before his clutch broke on his sled. In order for the trip to continue for him we needed to get the clutch fixed. I tried to tell him since it was his sled that was broken he could sit at Trailshead while we finish riding, but I bet you can all imagine how well that went over! So, there I sat. I ran into a buddy from work so chatted with him, and then my in-laws group showed up so I chatted with them. I probably only sat by myself for like 15 minutes. Marcus showed up and to Blackhawk we went. We were able to get his clutch fixed for a very reasonable price. So back to the cabin we went ready for the rest of the weekend sledding. Well, on Friday I woke up feeling great, but by the time we reached our destination I felt awful. It was that achy, upset stomach sick and I was pretty miserable. The rest of our group headed on to a different destination while Marcus and I headed back to the cabin. I still managed to put about a 100 miles on the sled on Friday, but the last 15 were not fun. The trails were rough (bumpy) and I was really sore and achy. Friday night I took her easy and Saturday felt a little better. The girls and I headed into Deadwood while the boys sledded. Took her pretty easy in Deadwood and came to realize gambling sober is not as much fun. Maybe it is because I have a sense of all the money I am losing! Sunday we packed up and hit the road to come home. Of course this is the day that I am starting to feel good again and at this point I really wish we had one more day in the hills. Good thing we were coming home though. My mom was starting to get ill as well. Must be something going around because Jason was also getting sick on the way home. Pretty much everyone in our group of snowmobilers was getting sick! I suppose that is what happens when you stick 8 people in a cabin and 4 out of the 8 are sick! Sawyer had been battling a pretty icky cold before we had left, but it was mainly stuffed up nose and no cough. Well today he has a pretty nasty cough, is wheezing a little when he breathes, and has a fun case of what I imagine is diarrhea. So, I am home with him today and we have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. I am going to feel really dumb if it is nothing, but with the coughing, wheezing, and massive cases of RSV going around, I figure better safe than sorry. He has not been running a fever and seems to still be in good spirits, but really sleepy as well. I will keep everyone posted as to what the verdict is, and hopefully this is the end of round one sickness in the Hunter household! Hopefully tomorrow it is back to reality (work) and Sawyer gets to visit his friends at daycare. 

Jo

Back to work

Well, January 30th came and I officially went back to work. I have to say I didn't do too bad. I got the kiddo up around 7 to get dressed and eat a little something, packed him up in his car seat and off to daycare we went. I thought there were going to be a lot of tears but I honestly did okay. With my survival kit in hand from the ladies at daycare (Kleenex, and some Hershey's hugs and kisses) I headed to the car and waited for the tears to come. What do you know, no tears! I couldn't believe it. Honestly day two was probably harder than day one. I told Marcus I agreed to go back to work, but not for how long...we never discussed day two! Well, here we are and it is week 2. Sawyer seems to be enjoying daycare and the wonderful ladies at Kidz World seem to be enjoying him. I am settling back into work nicely, and after 1 day, 900+ emails, two training classes, and review of release, I was back on the phone. For those of you that don't know what I do, I am technically classified as a Customer Service Rep for Precision Support. Precision is banking software, however I support much more than the software. I would say 50% of my job is helping with loan information, so I need to know a great deal on how loans work. This includes everything from insurance, collateral, escrow, FASB, interest methods and calculations, payment schedules, billing and payments, written off loans, etc. About 30% of my job is assisting with DDA/CDA information. About 10% of the time I get to balance GL's. Usually something gets posted incorrectly and I need to help the bank find their offage. December-May 5% of my job is Year End, mainly tax information such as correcting notices, preparing 5498's, IRA information, etc. In all actuality I would say 5% of my job is determining issues with the software, mainly error messages that may happen, something incorrect happened while working in Precision, etc. So, that being said work has been keeping me busy which makes my days go quick. It was definitely great to get back into a routine and equally as great to see all my friends at work on a regular basis. Speaking of routine, the last two nights Sawyer has been going down between 9-10 and sleeping till 6-6:30! I miss seeing my little man in the middle of the night, but 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep is totally wicked! I have started to slowly pick up the working out and aim to run at least the 5K Avera Breast Cancer Run. I ran the 10K last year, and mind you I was pregnant, but I don't know if my knee or hip can handle it again! Man I am getting old. This past weekend we took family pictures with Marcus's whole family, all 15 of us. We had 8 adults and 7 kids and no one had a meltdown! Not even the parents! The pictures turned out really nice, and we had a wonderful time! Next week we plan on going to the Hills snowmobiling, well if there is any snow. This means leaving Sawyer with Grandma Nanon starting Wednesday thru Sunday afternoon. I am not convinced I will make it very far down the road before I ask to be dropped back at home. I am sure that Grandma and Sawyer will have a wonderful time without mom and that Uncle Pat, Aunt Missy, and the cousins will be around as well, but I am still struggling with leaving him! One thing I am thankful for is that he is a little older than he originally would have been. In fact, not sure I would have gone if he would have been born in December! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get in the vehicle Wednesday! Not much else to report at this time, but I will be back in a couple of weeks!

Jo 

2 Months

Today was Sawyer's 2 month appointment and he is doing great. He weighed in at 11 lbs 4 oz, and 22 inches long. Our friend Emily held him the other day and guessed 11 lbs 5 oz, man she is good! The Dr. said his growth is wonderful and he is doing amazing! We talked about making the switch to formula and it seems to be fairly easy. At this point babies don't have very much for taste buds so he will not notice a difference between breast milk and formula. I will probably notice a difference in that he will most likely sleep longer, may spit up a little more frequently, and his poops may be more solid. The Dr. assured me that moving him to formula is just fine and not to feel guilty. With planning to do formula at daycare regardless, I think I should have enough breast milk to get us through at least month 4. We are going to try giving him formula for his 8-10pm feeding to see if he will sleep a little longer at night. The Dr. said he is really close to rolling over as well. He placed him on his tummy and said with how he is holding his head up and with his feet coming off the ground all he will need to do is push off with one arm and he will be over. He did say it will take a little more for him to go from his back to his tummy. We also got our first round of shots today. Oh, how horrible. Here was my smiling happy baby and here I was holding his arms down so the nurses could poke his thighs. Oh the face and the tears! I got pretty lucky and he didn't cry too much. I did pretty good and didn't cry at all. After the appointment we went home to eat, then took a trip to visit Grandma and off to Target to get a few essentials. Figured we might want toilet paper in the house. We had a pretty busy weekend with a retirement party for a friends dad on Friday, watching the lack of Tim Tebow magic at Uncle Pat and Aunt Missy's, and summed it all up with the Baptism of our friends little guy. Our next appointment is in two months, and we get another round of shots. I think this time I will make Marcus go with me to hold his hands down.

Jo

Reality

Ugh, the reality that I have not won the lottery or have had a large donation of funds has become clear now that I have daycare booked. My first day back it work will be January 30th and as much as I am looking forward to adult conversation with actual discussion back, I will miss the lounging around in my pj's with the most adorable snuggle partner I have ever had. Sorry Marcus and Boomer, you both have been replaced. We were lucky enough to get a highly coveted spot into Peace Care. This is the daycare that my brother's kids have gone and having watched them go through the program fell in love. The daycare is at our church which is about two minutes from our house and five from my work. This is awesome because it will really take me no time to drop my kiddo off and when quitting time hits, I will get to him that much quicker. I can predict however that on January 30th that I will hate that daycare is so close because I am guessing 5 minutes will not nearly be enough for me to compose myself prior to my first day back. I am pretty sure I am going to cry the entire way to work and wouldn't be surprised if I have to pee a lot so I can avoid crying at work. Marcus is pretty sure that within the week, I will be back to loving going to work and everything will be grand. He is usually right and I am looking forward to some sort of routine. I am nervous that I only have two weeks to start working on not laying in bed till 7 or 8 and actually getting up in time to be ready for work. Currently Sawyer eats anywhere from 8-10pm and after that feeding we put him down. He usually wakes around 3am to eat and than back to bed for another 3-4 hours, so usually I am up at 6 or 7 to feed him again. My biggest mistake at this point is that I don't just get up. I am also in the process of trying to ween off pumping. My biggest hope is that in two weeks I can be done pumping and my kiddo sleeps a little longer so I am not night of the living dead at work. I am sure I will learn to function completely on 5-6 hours of sleep if need be though. I am mainly weening off pumping due to a snowmobile trip in February, of course that is if there is any snow. Little hard to pump every 4 hours when you are in the middle of nowhere. This was a decision I completely wrestled with and still do. Mainly because I feel I am quitting for a completely selfish reason, and that is to go on vacation, and I could absolutely go longer. One nice thing, is that I can imagine pumping at work is not very convenient so it will be nice to be done by then. Marcus is also excited for me to be done because he says it is stressful on me which makes it stressful on him. That, and I could actually sleep through him getting up for a feeding and not having to get up as well and pump! We have managed to freeze some milk and did ask the Dr. about intermixing formula and breast milk and he said that is fine. We at this point have decided to do formula at daycare and and breast milk at home until it is gone. We had to the Dr. on the 16th for our 2 month appointment. I am excited to see how much my peanut weighs, especially since he seems to be packing the lbs. on. I however am not excited for 2 month shots. I was clipping the little guys nails the other day and accidentally got the tip of his finger, oh the face and the tears were horrible so I can't imagine what I am going to get with shots! Anyhoo, I am sure I will send an update on Monday after our appointment!

Jo

New Years

Well 2011 is officially over and 2012 has begun. As I look forward to the upcoming year and all the amazing things that are to come, I can help but feel a little sad. 2011 was an awesome year and will be greatly missed. Some of the things that made 2011 awesome were, and in no particular order; being pregnant, Vegas with some beloved friends, spending the summer camping, the multiple birthdays celebrated, another wonderful year of marriage, good jobs, having friends and family happy and healthy, and of course welcoming Sawyer. Even though I am sad to see 2011 go, I am excited to see what 2012 brings. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years and are as excited about 2012 as I am.

Jo

6 Weeks

Today was my 6 week checkup and everything is good. The Dr. said I could go ahead and start walking/jogging and eventually running. This is a good thing considering I have at least 15lbs of baby weight left to lose. I am hoping to be back into shape and running well enough to run the Breast Cancer 10k again and hopefully beat my time from last year! My scar is healing nicely and I was told the redness will decrease. All in all, it takes about 6 months to completely heal, but I am well on my way! Sawyer did amazing for his first Christmas's. We started the celebrating with my Dad's side on the 17th. It was an extra special treat to have Sawyer's Great Grandpa Cory brave the weather and come back from Arizona. He honestly couldn't have asked for a nicer weekend to make the trip! My brother grilled steaks and that it was present opening chaos! It certainly was fun and I am already looking forward to next year when Sawyer can join his cousins in the mass unwrapping! Christmas Eve was spent with my Mother's side. She made our traditional dinner of dumpling soup and my brother and I proceeded to eat our weight in dumplings! Again, it was present opening chaos, but again enjoyable! Christmas Day morning Marcus, Sawyer, Boomer, and I made the trek to Huron. I was feeling incredibly confident in my packing skills until we arrived and I went to pump and realized that a portion of my pump was at home! Thinking that Walmart had to be open I figured I would just use formula, but of course it would be the one day Walmart closed. My cousin-in-law Amanda came to the rescue and found a pump I could use for the weekend, which was amazing! Again we had present opening chaos, but it was fun watching the kiddos open. Next year Sawyer will add to the mix and there will be 7 grandkids ripping gifts open! Dinner was prime rib and steaks for those of us not fans of prime rib. Enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and by 9:30pm we were pooped and headed to Uncle Kirk's to crawl into bed. This is the first time Marcus and I have spent the night in the same room as Sawyer and wow, my child moves and makes noise a lot! I kept thinking he was going to get up for the night but he was simply grunting in his sleep. He takes after daddy with his snoring! We headed home on Monday with luggage for all 6 of Sawyer's cousins. They are heading to Sioux Falls to stay with Grandpa and Grandma for the week! Hard to believe December is almost over, which makes me sad because next comes January and that means back to work. I am excited to go back to work because I enjoy my job, but I am also sad to not get to hang around with my baby all day. New Year's Eve we are heading to the Stampede game with Marcus's work and than hanging with some fabulous people. I am looking forward to ringing in the New Year with the loves of my life. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and has a wonderful start to 2012! Talk to you next year!

Jo

One Month

Little man had is one month checkup today and is doing great. He weighed in at 8lbs 4ozs. This put him in the 15th percentile. He has only gained an inch in length but the Dr. said he should hit a growth spurt around 6 weeks and gain some length. Overall though he is doing fantastic. We have a grunter on our hands, he definitely enjoys telling us all about it. He currently is drinking 2 and 1/2 ounces and eats every 3 to 4 hours, which is pretty awesome at night. My milk supply has been getting better and Marcus is happy to report he is a milk freezing machine. We are in the process of the ever so fun job of scouting daycares, which makes this momma sad. I can't believe how fast the time goes. It certainly is nice being on maternity leave over the holidays but with this, the time also seems to move quicker because there is so much to do. At this point, I believe my first day back to work would be January 30th, unless Marcus wins the lottery or someone decides to donate some funds for me to stay home! For the most part, Sawyer is pretty laid back. He does have his fussy times, which usually seem to be about 7 in the morning, and 5/6 at night. The Dr. said this is most likely because Marcus is leaving/coming home and Sawyer simply wants to be up and know what is going on. I am slowly, and I mean slowly, coming to grips with the reality that not everything is going to get done like it was prior to having a baby. Mainly, my house is not going to get dusted every week, my workouts will most likely not be at the same time every day, I will either need to get rid of the dog or learn to live with a little dog hair on my kids clothes. My guess on the last one, I will be learning to live with a little dog hair on my kids clothes. As most of you know, I really strive to be punctual, and I am starting to learn that I will need to leave a lot earlier to make it on time for things now, but hey, the kid is a good excuse for being late, right? I stress a lot about when I go back to work, the time management aspect. Getting myself ready for work, getting him ready for daycare, pumping, etc. Of course my husband just looks at me and shakes his head. He tells me to quit stressing and that it is not like he is going to lay in bed and let me do it all...what a wonderful man! Anyhoo, Sawyer is starting to smile a ton and recognize voices. We do tummy time, which he is pretty good at and doesn't get too mad about. He loves his little rain forest sound machine in his crib, we just need it to play a little longer. We usually have to hit the button a couple of times. This weekend we will be having our first Christmas with my Dad and Stepmom, and a special treat, Grandpa Cory flew in from Arizona! We also get to celebrate the birthday of one of Sawyers future best buddies, all in all, it will be a busy but awesome weekend. Hope this finds you all well and talk to you soon!

Jo