Books, Hiccups, and Music

It is so amazing how everyday we learn something new about Beckett.  Joe and I have been reading to him A LOT.  We sit him in our laps and show him the pictures in the books while we read.  Obviously he doesn't know what is going on yet, but he wiggles his arms and legs and acts like he really enjoys it.  We can read to him for almost 20-25 minutes before he fusses and gets tried of it.  We have read him an entire children's Bible (don't want him to be as clueless as I was!), a Baby Einstein book of shapes, Pat the Bunny (my personal fav from childhood), a book about baby animals, and a Rhyme Around book.  I enjoy it as much as he does!

Beckett still really likes his bath time.  No matter how fussy he is at night, once his little bum hits the water he is happy and calm.  Unfortunately, the last 3 nights in a row he has gotten the hiccups in the bathtub.  I don't know what the correlation is, but it is pretty funny.  He doesn't seem to mind them too much but I feel sorry for him.  Joe gets mad when he gets the hiccups- but I guess those are not usually from bath time but from beer.  :-)

We have also discovered that Beckett loves music.  I thought he liked music when I was still pregnant- I swear he had rhythm in the womb!  But he loves it when we sing to him and dance with him.  Joe holds him up and acts like he is rapping and Beckett opens his mouth in the widest smile ever.  On our anniversary (5 years!) on the 24th of July, Joe and I were having a drink and listening to some music.  I was singing to Beckett.  He didn't seem to mind that I can't carry a tune to save my life.  If he's fussy I will walk with him in the back room and dance and he calms down.  (He also doesn't mind that I am a horrible dancer as well as singer.)  I did the Cha-Cha Slide with him and he loved it which made me crack up because Joe HATES that song.  Actually, I think he just hates when I am drunk and want to dance to it.  But either way, it is funny.

Beckett is still sleeping through the night. Now he will go to bed around 9:30 and sleep until 5:30-6:30.  Unfortunately, we are still having issues with our house so Beckett is sleeping in his port-a-crib in the guest bedroom, but he doesn't seem to mind.

More pictures to come soon!

Video Troubles

Joe and I are desperately trying to figure out how to upload a video to this blog.  This morning I got out the camera to film Beckett since he is usually in a chipper mood in the morning and he has been doing a lot of "talking" lately.  I got an awesome video of him puking on Joe.  Hopefully we will figure out how to get it up here soon.  In the meantime, enjoy some new pictures.

Joe, Beckett, Noodle, Albert, and I all went walking along the Potomac today.  There is a shaded trail that runs along the river.  It was really nice and peaceful, although I was annoyed that it was a little muddy from the rain yesterday.  I put Beckett in the Baby Bjorn and he fell asleep for the longest time!  His little arms and legs just flop along.  It is so cute! It was nice to have a place to talk since we have been walking in the parking lot of our neighborhood.  While the hills are a great workout, it isn't too scenic.

I'm almost through cleaning the first two floors of our house.  (Yes, it was that filthy when we moved in!)  I'm bummed because I broke the attachment part of my vacuum cleaner so I'm not sure how to vacuum the stairs at the moment, but I'm sure I will figure out something.  We just have a few things to hang and the house will finally look like a home!

Good News and Interviews!

I hate to jinx it, but for the past 4 days, Beckett has slept through the night!  We start getting ready for bed about 8:30 doing the bath thing, which he still loves, by the way.  I feed him and he will hang out with us for a bit and usually fall asleep by 10:00.  He slept until nearly 6:45 today!  It was wonderful!   It will make it a lot easier for me to go back to work with him sleeping through the night.  However, I have to have a job first before I can worry about that.  I did have a screening interview with a county in Maryland yesterday, but I did not get the best vibe from the woman I spoke to.  I am searching the internet everyday and have e-mailed several principals.  I am worried that I will get hired late in the summer, but it will be better than nothing!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Our house is finally starting to look like a house!  I have been cleaning everyday to get it the way I want it.  We finally got all of the boxes out of the living room and now have a little space.  We also were able to get cable in the living room (our landlord did a complete 180, thank goodness!) but our guest bathroom toilet is still leaking.  We are still struggling with the washing machine dripping as well, but I am happy to at least have a clean house!

We signed Beckett up for a daycare in Martinsburg.  It is a lot more than we want to pay, but I figure we are paying for peace of mind also.  I feel very comfortable leaving Beckett at this center.  It was very clean and both times we have visited the kids have all been playing and eating happily.  I have had a lot of anxiety about leaving him in someone else's care, but I really do think this place will be nice.  A friend of mine summed it up best- she said she knew her daughter would be fine, she just didn't know if she would be fine.  Beckett is more and more alert and happy and fun each day- right as I am really enjoying him I feel like I have to give him up.  Luckily we still have a few weeks left to fully enjoy him!

Once the house is completely set up I will take some pictures and post them.  And of course, what you really want, more Beckett pictures, will be up soon as well!

Beckett Finally Gets a Nursery!

Well, it only took us until he was 8 and a half weeks old, but we finally finished Beckett's nursery.  We still want to get a bookshelf that matches the cherry wood of his furniture, and I would like to get the valance that matches his bedding now that I know he has a window as well as the diaper stacker that matches, but other than that, his room is complete.  Oh yeah, we need a toy box too.  Ok, maybe we're not that close to being done with it, but at least he has his beautiful crib and dresser all put together, a place for his books and toys, and a rocking chair for us to help put him to sleep!

Beckett's Favorite Time of Day

Bath time has turned out to be a very enjoyable experience for both Beckett and I.  (When he doesn't pee on me, at least.)  He loves to be in the water and usually will eat and go to bed soon after.  Joe and I have been trying to read to him at night, but I think it is hard for him to focus on the books right now.  We bought him some nursery rhymes, a children's Bible story book, as well as a few others.  I'm going to post a few more recent pictures now as well.

Craziness

Well, it has been awhile since this has been updated, but when I fill you in on what has been going on in our lives you will see why!

When we got back from O'Fallon we basically had 5 days to pack our entire house minus a few boxes my mom packed earlier.  This would normally be no problem, but Beckett is pretty demanding when it comes to attention.  It was stressful, but somehow, we got it done and even had time to visit with Shelli and Cody.  We cleaned our house until it was spotless (this is important for a later story) and got on the road at 5:30 pm.  We arrived in O'Fallon at 6:30 in the morning.  We were pooped!  My grandma stopped by with my Great Aunt Mildred and Uncle Gary and Aunt Judy to see Beckett.  She loves him so much!  She forgets a lot and keeps repeating herself about him being a boxer, but boy she knows when he is in town!  We weren't sure how long we were going to stay in town because we didn't know when the movers would get to our house.  We got to stay much longer than expected and finally took off to West Virginia on Sunday, the 6th.  We promised Beckett it would be his last extended car ride for a very long time.  He was pretty patient, for the most part.

Let's talk about how great our first day in West Virgnia was.  We stayed in a hotel the night before and woke up super early to get drinks for the movers and to meet with a real estate agent, Natalie, to do the final walk through.  She does not own the property.  The woman who owns the property is Carolyn.  Again, important for later in the story.  So anyway, we were just getting ready to leave the hotel and I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my back on the right side.  I mean, it really really hurt.  Needless to say, I had Joe drop me off at the emergency room so that he could go on and meet the movers at our house.  An IV and a cat scan later the doctor told me I had a kidney stone, that it wasn't that big, that it didn't have far to go, and that I pretty much had to suck it up as long as I am nursing Beckett.  Damnit.  (I think I passed it already though.)  So I was back at the new house by 10:00 am.  Poor Joe was stuck trying to direct the movers, hold back the dogs, do the walk through, and take care of screaming Beckett.  Just a little chaotic for him, right?

Problem #1 with our new house:  it was FILTHY.  I'm talking hair in the bathtub, food on the stove, crap in the cabinets, and literally crap in the toilet.  Granted, the place had been vacant for a month, but I don't think showers get that dirty by just sitting there.  Don't worry, Carolyn said the house was "professionally cleaned."  You're kidding me.  Joe and I spent hours cleaning our house in Abilene (which was not dirty to begin with) and now we have to do it all over again.  Problem #2:  The air conditioning didn't work.  We unpacked all day with the temperature rising to up to 82 degrees in the house.  It was miserable.  Beckett was sweaty and we were all grumpy.  Problem #3:  I went to take a cold shower at the end of the day and had no cold water.  Even worse, the shower would not turn off!!  We had to shut the water off downstairs, and even that knob broke off in Joe's hand!  Back to the marvelous Super 8 we went.  Problem #4:  One of the toilet tanks leaks.  I went to give Beckett a bath and stepped in a puddle.  Problem #5:  There is no cable jack on the main floor.  Don't worry that we have our tv set up- it won't be in use.  If you want to come visit us, we will be enjoying the television from our bedroom.  

After calling Carolyn to complain about the problems and hanging up on her because she is a horrible person, I am praying that nothing else goes wrong with this house or we are probably up a creek.

However, on a brighter note, we have gotten a lot of unpacking done and I truly do like the place once everything gets fixed.  We went to visit Shepherdstown today to see Joe's university (Shepherd University) and the campus was beautiful!  It reminded me of a nicer version of Eastern, which we both dearly loved.  The town is darling and has lots of neat little shops and restaurants.  Also, I have a screening interview for a job in Maryland which is about 20 minutes away and will pay much more than a job in West Virginia.  Pray for me!

But, this blog is really supposed to be about Beckett, so I will update you on him, since he is the most important thing in our lives.  How he has changed in just a few short weeks!!  He is really focusing in on things and taking it all in.  He is finally smiling and giggling much more, even though he is still pretty serious.  He still has his bouts of fussiness, but for the most part, he is a content baby.  (Unless he has to poo- boy look out!)  He imitates us when we eat or drink, which, according to baby books, means he is one step closer to eating solid foods like rice cereal.  I don't know how much he weighs right now, but as of our last doctor's appointment at 6 weeks, he weighed 11 lbs, 4 oz and was 23.5 inches long.  His height was in the 75th percentile and the doctor said everything was looking good!  Now he is 8 weeks old, so no telling what he weighs now.  He is eating more and more each day!  He also dropped a feeding at night, so he will go to bed between 10-11 and sleep until 3:00, which has done wonders for my sleeping patterns, although I still feel tired in the morning.  He usually wakes up again between 5-6 and then will sleep just a little longer until I make Joe get up with him so I can sleep in.  Albert is still his protector- he must check out anyone who holds Beckett and if we lay him on his activity mat, Albert will lick him to make sure he's alright.  (He loves this sun that hangs from his mat that plays music- he kicks his legs faster to songs with a faster beat!)  Noodle is getting to be a little more curious- she wants to lick his toes, but she does that to everyone.  The dogs have been more than a little stressed with this move.  Once we get settled and can walk again I'm sure things will be better.

Well, I guess that is all for now.  I keep meaning to upload pictures, but it takes forever.  I promise I will add some new ones soon!  Beckett looks much different now from the pictures I first put on the blog.  It is amazing how quickly he changes!