Jobs, Mice, and Moving!

Good news on the homefront- I finally got a job!  I will be teaching 8th grade Language Arts at Musselman Middle School in Bunker Hill, WV.  I am very excited about the change.  I have had lots of workshops and met many of my co-workers and they all seem very friendly and positive.  Unfortunately, work means that sweet Beckett has nearly finished his first week of daycare.  I have cried everyday, but he is doing really well and the ladies in the nursery love him.  I feel comfortable leaving him there- it just makes me sad to do it.  I know it will be good for him to socialize, but I miss him so much during the day.  We are trying to make the most of our evenings.

Now to address the "mice" part of the title.  We caught our first mouse in the house tonight.  We discovered he was dining on hotdog and hamburger buns.  I swear I have cleaned and cleaned this house but it is still a shithole.  Joe bought some traps that would kill it and some that would just trap it, so I felt better knowing he had a 50/50 chance.  Unfortunately, he chose the wrong one and left blood on my counter from the massacre.  I know it is just a mouse and I know we need to get them out because of the dirtiness of the whole thing, but I still hate to kill it.  I'm hoping he was on his own here, but we will see.

And now for the "moving" part.  No, we are not moving, although if we have many more problems here I might definitely consider it.  The moving part refers to Beckett.  Man, is he active!  I put him down in his crib a certain way each night, and every morning he has turned at least 90 degrees.  He loves his activity mat and bats at all of the toys and will even grab some of them.  He is doing better sitting up and is sitting on the "big boy" side of his bathtub.  Joe put his jumper/exersaucer together and even though he can't sit up all the way, he still grabs at the toys on the edges.  He is also sitting in his high chair from Grandma Stone and Joe and I are finally able to eat dinner together with both hands!

So, besides the mouse massacre, things are going really well in the Robbins' household.  We are looking forward to Labor Day weekend, when our friends Andy and Angie and their son Garrett are coming to visit!

A Few Professional Pictures

Beckett Pukes!

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!