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I took this part time job in a financial office last November as an administrative assistant to one of the agents. We needed/need the 2nd income. For me, personally.. it was a way to feel useful, something to do with myself.  So recently my boss offered me an apprenticeship.  I would need to get licensed in life insurance and annuities.  From there he would mentor me, take me on appointments and share his business, making some good money in the process.  With the pressures of our financial woes at home, I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to help contribute more and then maybe Dave and I would argue less about money.  Dave and I have discussed this opportunity a few times, but more in depth last night.

For him, I believe it’s important that I’m home with Gavin.  If I took this apprenticeship, I’d have to put in at least 40 hours a week.  That in itself would conflict with the whole reason that I went part time in the first place, and that is so I’m home with Gavin.  Working 40 hours including nights and weekends could turn into 50 hours or even more.. then before you know it, I’m spending less and less time with my husband and Gavin.  Dave said I can do what I want to do. We talked about having more kids.. how would this new opportunity fit in with that? Dave said he doesn’t want him and Gavin to hold me back from potentially a new and rewarding career.. and asked me if that’s what I feel.

Is being a wife and mother holding me back?  I’m not sure.  I need to think and decide just what it is that I want.  Maybe now Dave will have a better understanding of how I feel about our finances? Has this, in a sense, made him aware of how his pressuring sometimes makes me think that I should make these decisions based on whether or not I’ll enough make money, instead of how such a decision will impact my family life?  If I wasn’t a wife and mother, would I still take this opportunity and run with it? That’s the question I need to ponder.

Today was Gavin’s 2 year check up… yeah, I know he’s 2.5 now, but I just never got around to making his appointment. Dr. Welker said he’s growing great. He weighed 31 pounds and measured 36 inches tall. We didn’t get any shots this time. I asked Dr. Welker about waiting until Gavin starts preschool before we start up with his shots again. I just hate all those immunizations. He hasn’t had any shots since his 9 month check up. I turned down the MMR and the Chicken Pox.  We had also delayed all his shots until he was 4 months old.  Dr. Welker said he should do just fine to wait till preschool. By then, we can probably get away with just one booster for the school year, which is cool.  However, I’m looking into a way to avoid shots all together.

At any rate, my little man is growing like a weed.

I’ve always thought of myself as an avid writer… I can write poems, stories and many the occassional letter that never gets sent. I have no problems writing to or about someone, anyone, other than myself. So like a writer staring at a blank sheet of paper, here I am staring down at my keyboard wondering what strokes to make, what words to use in expressing the contents of my head. I’m sure I’ll get better at this as I go along, afterall how boring it would be to have each entry a be simple blank [web] page. Could that be any indication on my life or what’s in my head? I doubt it. I’ve always kept a journal for years, since I was a young girl. I remember my first ‘diary’ it had one of those locks on it that never really worked but more or less acted as a deterant for whomever had wandering eyes, especially when they belonged to a younger sibling, a sister to be more specific. I still have that old diary… pages filled with "I love Shawn Cassidy" or "My little sister is a brat" or "Johnny actually looked at me in class today."

I’d like to think that I’m beyond those types of entries. At 36 years old I’m sure my pages can be filled with some pretty extreme and intense subjects. So if you’re wandering eyes should fumble across my little "space" here… feel free to add a comment or two.. come back and check in now and then.

We had a playdate this morning at Skatin’ Station in Canton. It’s a preschool skate.. kids just 5 and under. Gavin had a blast, I couldn’t get the skates on him fast enough.. he was dying to get out there and cruise along. He was holding my hand for awhile, then he decided he didn’t need my hand anymore and pushed it away.  He did quite well, surprised me! There were bigger kids that were having a much harder time on skates… Gavin just went out there with all the confidence in the world and had a great time!!

Well it’s been quite a while since I last updated.  Gavin celebrated his 2nd birthday last month, that was a lot of fun. It’s hard to believe he’s 2 already. Where does the time go?

Gavin is finally starting to talk. His vocabulary grows just about every day. Sometimes I think it grows faster than he realizes. He says things that we have no idea what he’s saying, but he’s so darn serious and looks at us as if we are suppose to know what he’s saying.  I’m going to schedule his 2 year check-up. Then we’ll know how much he’s grown. He’s wearing a size 3T now! He loves to play hockey with his dad. The best part is when he throws his hands in the air and says.. "Goal!!" What a riot this kid is, I’ll tell ya.

Well.. I’m hoping to get back on track with things and keep up with the blog.  I hope you enjoy checking in on little Gavin… I’m sure the "Day in the Life of a Toddler" is just what you need. LOL

Enjoy… and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This was a pretty normal week. Monday was Memorial Day..  we got up early and went and saw the Dearborn Memorial Day Parade. Gavin really enjoyed it. We were sitting right on the curb.. he wanted so bad to get up and march along with the parade. He was pointing and jabbering. They were passing out little hand flags.. Gavin enjoyed waving his flag.

Tuesday I found out that I’m losing my job on June 30th. They are phasing out my position and other departments are currently in a hiring freeze so I can’t change departments. It’s a huge disappointment and I’ll miss this job a great deal.

Gavin has had a stuffy nose the past couple days. It doesn’t seem to phase him much.. he’s his usual happy-go-lucky self. Tomorrow we are getting him a twin bed for his room. We’re hoping to start transitioning him out of our bed and into his own bed. With the twin bed, I’ll be able to lay down with him if he’s having a bad night.. plus with me still nursing him, it’ll be much more comfortable. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Off to bed…

Gavin had a great weekend. Sunday he spent the afternoon alone with Daddy while Mommy and Aunt Renee went to visit an old friend. Gavin and Daddy went for a walk all the way over to Grandma Donna’s house. They had dinner over there, then the storms came so Grandma Donna had to drive them home.

Monday Gavin had a doctor’s appointment for his 15 month well-baby check-up. We also had the doctor look at his eczema. It’s really bad on his wrists and he wakes at night scratching them … so the doctor prescribed some prescription strength hydrocortizone, we’ll see if that helps. He weighed in at 25 pounds.. just as he did at his 12 month check up. Looks like his finally catching up to his weight cause he was one chubby man, after all he was 21 pounds at 6 months! He measured 30 inches tall. He’s in the 75 percentile in height and 65-70 percentile for weight.

We finally got another tooth that cut through! YEAH!!! He’s been miserable and I’m assuming that was the cause of his crabbiness   and restlessness lately. He’s had the same 6 teeth since December, it’s about time some more come through.. I think he’s going to cut a few more here in the next week or so because he wakes up tugging and chewing on his fingers.. poor little guy.  Hopefully he’ll have some molars come through so he can eat more finger foods.

Just hung around at home today. We had a huge storm roll through at about 2:30 this afternoon, high winds and large hail. Gavin was taking his nap and the hail hitting the awning and windows woke him up and scared him. I didn’t mind him waking up though… we sat on the couch and watched the storm together. He kept me from feeling alone during the storm. The skies got very dark and green but it passed quickly and then Gavin was full of energy and ready to play.

He was being so silly today. He got a kick out of putting on the little sunglasses I bought him and then walking around the house with them on… he was so proud of himself.   Then he’d take the glasses and put them on top of his head.

Last night he drove his dad and I crazy. We had missed his bedtime window and he ended up overtired and too wired to sleep. He finally went down around midnight. He was so fussy up until then, we knew it was because he was tired, but he just wouldn’t go down for sleep. Daddy and I took turns trying to sooth him and get him to sleep, we were singing to him, reading to him, I tried nursing him, nothing helped.. he was like a zombie, till finally he was crying and I laid him in the bed and he zonked out… he was sniffing in his sleep for about an hour.

Tonight he went down at a decent hour, he was so sleepy since his nap was cut short from the storm. Hopefully tomorrow’s weather will be better and we can get outside.

Lots of parades going on in the neighborhood.  It’s "Fix Up/Pick Up/Clean Up" season around the area. Many local schools are putting on little parades through the neighborhood. All the kids make signs and hats all to promote a clean and beautiful neighborhood. Gavin has seen 3 so far in the last couple weeks. He just loves it. He points and claps. The one he saw this morning, his cousin Matthew was in the parade and Gavin wanted to march right next to him. They really had a fun time.

Welcome to "Motherese."  Defined as this: It’s baby talk, also known as "motherese," and every culture around the world has its version of it. It feels only natural for adults to modify their language when speaking to babies and young children. We shorten words, use repetition, vary and exaggerate pitch, thus making our speech simpler and more sing-song. We may sound silly to others, but it’s music to our babies’ ears.

Tap into the world of a toddler one glorious moment at a time.  A mere glimpse of my life, trials and tribulations with a two year old… what a fun ride I can already tell it will be.