Epic Update

For me, writing is a way for me to gather my thoughts. I feel like my thoughts lately are so scattered (probably due to a lack of sleep) that I must gather them up and categorize them! So here is my life categorized.

First, SLEEP.
It's not happening anymore. Charlotte was sleeping so well and then teething hit and it ended. She had me up feeding her every hour last night. EVERY HOUR. I've been waking up with a stiff neck every morning for at least three weeks. I'm on my third pillow attempt to ease my sore neck. I'm going to look into sleep methods. It's a bit difficult to sleep train with a house full of people that need to be up at all hours of the morning. But I can't function like this. It also doesn't help that my husband works graveyards. So I don't have the option of "your turn." I need a frickin break.

FOOD.
Chuck's been on solids for a month now. I haven't been overzealous about making sure she has some every day, but I think I'll probably up the solids to once a day at least. She eats that much easily when I do feed her. This means I need to buy cases of baby food. I think I'll wait to make my own baby food when we have our own house. As it is, there's really no place to store it anyway.

GROWING
Charlotte wants to crawl so bad but can't seem to figure out the coordination for it yet. I think she's also going through another growth spurt because she's been eating like crazy and sleeping more during the day. I just bought her 6 month clothes (albeit not as many as 3 month). I would like if she could wear them for at least a few more weeks. Anyone else notice that pajamas and jackets are the last thing they grow out of?  Maybe it's just my baby.

HOLIDAYS
If I didn't have a calendar I would guess that it's early October right now. The holidays feel a bit surreal to me. Thanksgiving just felt like another family meal. I'm beginning to think that traditions are what make the holidays feel like something special. In terms of Christmas, I'm really disappointed that no one wants to go to the tree farm to get a tree. I've been trying to establish this as a family tradition for Paul and I three or four years now and he fights me on it every year. I don't really understand his aversion to it. We have zero holiday traditions left in my family. I want us to have some. I think another tradition I want to start is Black Friday people watching. Perhaps I'll make a website devoted to photos of crazy people on black friday.

BUSY MOM
Right now I'm in the process of putting together a holiday recital for my voice studio. I'm a little nervous about my students preparedness. I've continued to take voice lessons and I feel like they've been very beneficial. I've made it my goal to give a recital (the senior recital I never had) probably mid-February. I need to get going on planning the details!

I'm also on the planning committee for my high school reunion. I love event planning (probably a bit too much) and I've spent quite a bit of time on it.

Lastly I've been seriously contemplating starting a small business making stuffed animals to sell on etsy and in a couple local baby shops. I think it's a good plan, but I worry about the time commitment. I really want to do it though, I think it's a completely viable business. I need to spend time doing some more research.

BAILEY
I think Paul and I are a bit stumped about what to do with our cat. He broke his leg and has been in a kennel for about 6 weeks. We shelled out the $160 to get x-rays which showed that he needs to have his leg amputated. The problem is that this costs $1000+ to do. We don't have the money. We don't have the credit. We basically have to give him up. I'm mad because he's been through so much and we've always managed to keep him - not to mention that we've spent over $400 on this leg so far. Paul's in denial and doesn't seem to want to do anything at all. In the meantime, our poor cat is stuck in a kennel with a leg that's not healing.

HOUSE
We're a bit further from buying a house than I'd like. I'm months behind on my Sallie Mae payments and it's hurting Paul's credit. We have no savings either. Giving, we've only been at my parents 3 months, but I'm getting antsy. Hopefully we'll be able to pre-qualify for our home-loan by February. I've kind of lost my momentum for the time being. We've been working really hard to be on a budget and to get stuff paid down. It still feels like our bank account is a sieve.