What We've Been Up To

Now that we are back from vacation, it just seems like the summer is winding down and SCHOOL is looming ahead of me. Yuck. I did sign my contract at United for another year, and have been told by the superintendent that I will be teaching 1st Grade (there are 25 students total, and with 2 sections, I could end up with a really nice sized class!). So it is nice to know that, but it isn't making the thought of going back to school any easier. Of course, I don't think going back to school is really what I am dreading... it's leaving Jeremiah at daycare. The thought of it makes me cry and feel sick at the same time. I am trying to prepare myself so that the first day I leave him I will not be a complete mess. However, I can just about guarantee that I will be a complete and utter mess no matter how much I try to "prepare" myself. The first step of getting used to leaving Jeremiah was bringing him to the nursery at church for the first time. And he did great! No crying, he played like a big boy and didn't even seem to miss mommy and daddy at all! Of course, I was a little disappointed. I mean, not even a little crying? Nothing???? He could have at least pretended to miss us! :)

In other recent new... it's nice to know that someone gets some use out of all this baby gear that we bought:



Jeremiah has been a little stinker when it comes to bedtime and naptime lately. He used to go to sleep so nicely when he was swaddled up in his velcro swaddle blanket (yes, it's basically a velcro straight-jacket, but he really did like it!). Now, he fights like crazy when we even try to swaddle him up... and if we do indeed succeed at getting him swaddled, this is how we find him when he wakes up:


So, we've decided that swaddling him is pretty much pointless (it was about time anyway... you can't buy a size EXTRA-large velcro swaddle blanket). This means that he has a harder time falling asleep and seems to think that he needs to flail his arms and legs around all over the place (because now he's FREE!). The good thing is that we stopped swaddling him a couple nights ago, and we're seeing improvement each night. Hopefully it continues!

Last Saturday we visited the Des Moines Farmer's Market. It was thankfully not SUPER hot, so Jeremiah was pretty comfortable in the stroller:

He's giggling because daddy was in line to buy fresh Iowa sweetcorn! It was delicious, by the way. :)

Jeremiah has become quite the thumb sucker lately... he doesn't do it at bedtime or when he's tired or to soothe himself... just kind of randomly.


We have been continuing the solid foods with Jeremiah, too! It was getting to be too difficult to feed him while he sat in the Bumbo (he would arch his back, and if his legs weren't so chubby, he'd flip right out!). So we decided it was time for a high chair-- we bought the kind that attaches to a chair, since we don't have a ton of extra space in our dining area. Jeremiah likes it (and he looks like such a big boy)!


He's been doing such a good job with the rice cereal, so we decided to start him on some fruits and veggies... we're starting with green veggies! I figure that Jeremiah has a 50% chance of being a picky eater, so we better get him hooked on the veggies early (and even then, there's no guarantee that he'll keep eating them... I know this from experience).

This was after a bite of green beans. Can't blame him, really! :)

And when he's had enough food, in goes the thumb!


Jeremiah and Molly are the best of friends!