September in a Nutshell

Wednesday night Paul got home from work and told me his mom wanted to talk to us at 8. She had us on a conference call with Paul's brother to tell us that she's met with a hospice care consultant and that she's decided to discontinue cancer treatments. This wasn't really much of a surprise. It also wasn't a surprise when she asked us to make the 400 mile trip north to visit them before she's gone.

Thursday I got an e-mail from our home loan lender that Paul's credit score had fallen two points below the required minimum for us to qualify for the loan. This is the loan we need for the house that we currently have an offer on and are waiting to hear an answer from. He told me it was because of my Sallie Mae loans. Sallie Mae for the win again. So I called them and figured out that I only needed to pay off one smaller loan in order for Paul's credit not to be tarnished by any more late payments - I tend to get overwhelmed by the payments and just don't make them because they stress me out.

So with our bank account close to $700 lighter we are hopefully on target to get his credit score up high enough to qualify before we actually need the loan. *fingers crossed*

Friday I did all our bills - which no matter what I do to streamline the process still always manage to take me hours - and then I took Charlotte up to Paul's brother's to make travel arrangements. As I was waiting for a call back from Enterprise (who gave us a great deal and were very accommodating) I got an e-mail from the HR department from Portland Public Schools. I assumed it was about my being removed from the sub list. Instead it was an urging from one of their staff members to apply for an open high school choir position.

So now I'm waiting to hear about whether I will be interviewing for the job (I assume they don't make many interview appointments on the weekend). This throws a whole new, but not unpleasant, wrench into an already hectic month of September.

I'm in a complete childcare conundrum. I'm going to need someone to watch Charlotte in the morning whether I get the job or not. I can't help but wonder how much work I can do and still be considered an at-home mom. This job would definitely make me feel less guilty just based on the fact that I've wanted it so badly for so long!

The rest of this year is already starting to look like a cyclone of busy. From now until mid-October we have school starting, this potential job starting, setting up my studio, camping, driving 16 hours to visit ailing family with a toddler, the met audition and all of the prep I need to do for it, and the looming possibility of finally buying our house and moving. This seems like a lot to fit into one month!

High Chair Happiness!

Last night Paul and I drove back from Seaside with Charlotte leaving my parents, sister and grandpa to enjoy a day baby free. It was rather nice getting to spend time with my husband alone, even if it was only a few hours (he had to get up early this morning for work). Before we left for the beach, Caitlin accompanied me to Babies'R'Us before my voice lesson to purchase a high chair. I spent this morning cooking up scrambled eggs and hash browns and feeding my baby who is still thrilled with the novelty of her high chair. 

The high chair is something we have put off for quite awhile...obviously about a year. I tend to be rather picky - which I've stated before - about baby products. I don't like things with patterns and too many noises, lights, and gadgets. I like simple things and I like them to be functional. The problem is that functional simple things tend to be twice as expensive as plastic things covered in animal and flower prints. Another difficulty is that things tend to be extremely gender specific, especially when it comes to girls stuff. I've gone out of my way to keep things fairly gender neutral in case we have a boy the next time around. I would feel bad putting my little man in a pink high chair.

I hadn't really shopped much for a chair when I saw this chair on display at Babies R Us. I had assumed we'd probably just get a chair from Ikea. But I saw this and I was sold - especially when the 20% off coupon worked for it! 

The pads are neutral colors, it's very easy to clean, the tray is huge and removable for cleaning. I also like the piece that blocks the crotch so food stays in her lap and the dog can't get it (she likes to feed the dog). The whole thing collapses flat and is on wheels making it easy to move it out of the way when it's not being used. The height is adjustable so that it can be used as a chair at the table, and the seat reclines which might be nice for an infant later. For a baby that likes to climb and stand in high chairs, I really liked the comfortable harness in it as well. So far she hasn't Houdini'd her way out yet, and even better she hasn't thrown a fit because she's contained.

Chicco Polly Magic High Chair

It's probably on the fancier side of plastic high chairs, but I figure it'll get plenty of use. I was interested in the stokke chair, but it's about $100 more, and even though it can be used by any sized person baby to adult, I kind of wanted something that would contain my busy baby better and the stokke chair design doesn't really fit with my other chairs all that well.  

I've only had this chair about 3 days now, so I can't really attest to its long term usability, but I'm happy so far. I felt extra mom-tastic this morning cooking up breakfast and feeding my baby in it. I imagine this must be how most normal people feed their toddler. No wonder people have high chairs earlier!