Being Bored

So Cam has worked at least 10 hour days so far this week. Monday was 11.5, Tuesday and Wednesday were 11, and yesterday was a little over 10. He leaves at 6:15 am (before Dallas or I wake up) and gets home between 6:30 and 7:30 pm, depending on how long his day is. Dallas usually goes to bed around 8 or 8:30 pm.

I am happy about the extra money that will come next pay check, but I am not so thrilled about Cam not being around and him not being able to spend much time with Dallas. Also next week Dallas and I are going up to Washington so we won't see Cam at all then either *sigh*

I have gotten used to Cam being home at 4:30 pm that I don't know quite what to do with myself in the evening when he isn't here and the days seem so long.

Cam had been moved to a retirement and estates team a while ago (without any pay change or option to say "no" really) and it has been taxing on him. I think dealing with dead people and sometimes emotional family members all day would do that to anyone. This week though he is covering or someone covering for someone else at a training session. He answers questions and take escalated calls (if any) from the new employees. He only take retirement calls if the queue is overly full. He commented that his 11 hour days this week have seemed shorter than his 8 hour regular days. He keeps applying for anything that opens up, so hopefully something will catch and he can move to a better paying, less stressful position.

Beds and Things

Well here is a picture of the top of Chelane's quilt, the colors are a bit more vivid in person. We went to Wal*mart and perused their $1 a yard shelf and since it only takes about 3/4 of a yard per pattern, this was a pretty cheap quilt. Plus I love the colors. I wasn't too sure about it at first, I was pulling out lots of bolts and laying them next to each other while Cam did some other shopping. I had been looking at the possible combinations for too long so I made Cam - I mean gave Cam the privilege of making the final decision. I am glad I did! He seems to pick good combinations.

We got Dallas a twin mattress a few weeks ago. It sits on the floor in his room and he adjusted with no problem. The first week/week-and-a-half he would get out of bed and fall asleep on the
floor and he even fell out of the bed a few times (luckily the mattress is on the floor so it is a 6" fall).


We would find him like this on the floor more often than not and move him gently back into his bed. After the first week/week-and-a-half though he is getting the hang of falling asleep in bed. It is still obvious that he isn't necessarily falling asleep right away every time (there will be clothes or toys moved around) but he is making it back to his bed when he decides he wants to sleep. I am happy he is able to make the decision more for himself now. And he seems to like it too.

Baby Arrangments

We moved around furniture today so there would be room in the master bedroom for the crib and baby dressers and all that. Dallas is still using the crib to this day, but we are planning on getting him a "big boy bed" sometime in the next month so he has time to transition before the baby comes.

I guess I haven't said already, "It's a girl!" There seemed to be no sign of baby boy parts in the ultrasound. We are planning on naming her Chelane (sha-lane), Cam loves the name and suggested it for Dallas before we knew the gender. I already bought a bunch of fabric and made the top of a baby quilt for her (it is reminiscent of Dallas' for those who have seen his - but with purple, green, and pink). I just need to put the border on, tie it and hem it up (of course I have to go buy the fabric to do that with still...).

I actually have had a bit of fun sewing last month. I was making that baby quilt and then I decided to make some wipes. They are two sided flannel, about 7"x 4" and fit in a regular wipes box just perfectly. Of course no Kassie project would be a Kassie project if I had finished it all at one time... I still haven't bought the essential oils and other things to use as the wipe "juice", so we are wetting down the wipes as we need them. This is something else that will have changed before the baby comes as well (I hope!).

I bet now you are wondering, "Wait, why is she making her own wipes?" Well Dallas is in cloth diapers now. It works great and isn't a huge change from disposables. Even Cam changes his cloth diapers (as long as it isn't pooey, lol but then he was the same way before...). I just use a prefold that you pin down and a synthetic cover. I haven't had a leak outside the cover yet (and the covers are so easy and quick to hand wash if there is a leak outside the prefold). I really feel like I am doing a bit to help the environment and I haven't had problems with Dallas having diaper rash at all since I switched. I am excited to see how they work with a newborn. We do still keep some disposables around, but those are reserved for day trips (if we take any) and babysitters (if we have any). The "sposies" are a brand called Tushies and are made with cotton and wood pulp innards rather than all the weird chemicals and non-biodegradable stuff most diapers have in them. They are a bit more bulky than other brands but again, I feel better using them (yeah I know, I am going granola over here).

I will get a pic of the quilt up here some (mostly so I can get compliments for it, lol).

Bandaids are for Wussies

Dallas likes to play in bathrooms. Lots of the time we just let him play with whatever he finds unless it is dangerous, fragile, etc. We try to keep doors shut, but that doesn't always work either.

He found some razor head refills in a drawer once - probably early April. The razors are in individual plastic containers with a plastic pull off lid. The lids require fine motor skills and finger strength, but Dallas still got it off. It wasn't long before he cut himself on the razor. My sister, Karma, was over that weekend and she noticed he had the razor first and took it from him. She also noticed the blood first. He had just done a few little cuts on the tip of a finger but, as razor cuts do, they were bleeding a lot.

Dallas wouldn't keep a bandaid on, or a bandaid reinforced with packing tape, or a wad of toilet paper plastered to his hand with packing tape. So we pulled out the big guns.

Yes that is right: a wad of toliet paper, held down by packing tape, wrapped in an ace bandage with his sleeve pulled up over most of his hand. Good luck with THAT one Dallas.

I know this second pictue doesn't show anything new but I LOVE this kid's smile (his bottom canine teeth have grown in since this too).

He had it off when he walked back into the room less than 5 minutes later.

We finally did childproof our cabinets about a month ago.

I'm Blue

Since Cam is in charge of cleaning the toilets he invested in some of those blue toilet bowl tabs that slowly dissolve in the tank and keep the toilet clean between scrubbings. We decided to keep the blue toilet tabs in the dowstairs bathroom since Dallas was hardly ever downstairs. Back in late March, after Dallas had mastered going down the stairs by himself, the bathroom door was apparently left open...

I am sure it took me a while to decide Dallas shouldn't be downstairs unsupervised that day when he let himself down. I had heard him crashing around in the kitchen - there wasn't anything in his reach that he could hurt in there - but then it got quiet. When I went downstairs to see what was happening, this sight met me


You can't quite appreciate it until you see his hands too, which are a little more visible in this next picture. He kept trying to grab at the camera and, since I didn't want to leave him with with remnants of the toilet tab in his mouth and on his hands, I stopped trying with the camera and cleaned him up.

There were also some blue smears and hand prints on the walls and in the carpet. Luckily that stuff is very water soluble. I was a bit worried about Dallas too. He had gnawed some of the tab off completely, but he seemed absolutely fine, no blue poo either.

I am a great mom aren't I?