Back to work nerves!

So I left Colby for the 1st time today with someone other than Johnny or our parents. I had an appointment and it seemed like a good time to "try out" the sitter. It was only for about an hour.

Holy cow did it suck. I missed him like crazy and it was hard to leave!! It's kind of funny thinking how hard it was to leave seeing as I left him every day for 109 days in the NICU... but I digress.

My point? I need help! If you have gone back to work post-baby, give me some hints! I am a bit excited about jumping back into school, but scared to death to leave Colby all day!

March of Dimes!!

We're gearing up for our first March of Dimes walk in May. Our team right now consists of 25 or so family and friends with hopefully more to sign up soon. As of now we are the #4 Family Team in Massachusetts as far as online donations are concerned. :) We're hoping to kick it into high-gear for the next month and a half to clinch the #1 spot. I can't think of a better way to remember Connor and honor Colby. :)

I've been toying around with our t-shirt design. Nothing is finalized yet, but what do you think? :)

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

If you'd like to help out our team, click on Colby's widget on the side my blog! We'd be honored to have your support!

8 Months for the boys!

We finally chose a babysitter for the buggy! :) We met with 3 people and the last one was AWESOME! She's a mom with 2 older kids- 17 & 14- and fell in love with the little guy! It was immediately clear that she was looking to watch Colby because she genuinely wants to spend time with him... the others were clearly in it for the (little) money. I'm really excited... I'd MUCH rather be home with my little man forever, but at least now I am comfortable knowing he'll be in good hands. This is how his week will look...

Monday: 1/2 day Johnny's mom, 1/2 day sitter

Tuesday: 1/2 day Johnny's mom, 1/2 day sitter

Wednesday: Sitter

Thursday: Sitter

Friday: My mom

A few Wednesday or Thursdays here and there we may have someone else in the family come and spend the day with the Buggy, but at least we will always have someone who is able to do the days. :)

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The cool dude in his helicopter hat and sunglasses. :)

A whole bunch of 8 month photos. :) Happy Birthday Boys!

70's!

We're enjoying the sunshine and 70 degree weather (in March!!!)... hope you are too!

Oldies but goodies

I was playing on facebook looking at old profile pictures I've had. (Because, you know, going tosleep would make too much sense...) I change my profile pretty frequently and I have over 4 pages of just Colby/Connor pictures. But that's not the point. The point is that I was looking at some of the older pictures... it's amazing how much the little bug has grown! You don't notice it too much on a daily basis, but looking back, it's crazy.

He had such a teeny tiny head! It's hard to believe that it's such a huge noggin now. :) I have a hard time remembering or believing that my baby was so itty bitty not so long ago. Those days of the NICU seem like a distant, fuzzy memory.

And my little baldy (to be fair, his hair is growing in pretty quickly lately) had SO much hair when he was first born! It's hard to remember the days when he skin was loose enough to allow him to have a wrinkly forehead. He looked like such an old man back in the day!

Eyes

His eyes just melt my heart.

He's so BIG!!!

See this adorable baby with the wet sleeve?

There is a war going on inside of his mouth.

And (knock on wood) aside from the copious saliva coming out of his mouth and the desire to chew on anything and everything in sight, you wouldn't know. No crying, no whining, no up-all-nights... nothing. (Again, knocking on wood here.)

But, today I felt the first tooth poking out of the bottom left side of the front of his mouth.

My baby has a tooth coming in!!

Not only that, but this little man is ready to move! He's not crawling, but he's learning to push off with his feet to slide across the floor. So far he's only really moving in circles, but he's on his way!

How is my baby big enough to have teeth and to be almost crawling?!?!!

(And why does this always underline at the bottom of my posts??)

Spring Weather!

It's been beautiful around these parts so for the past few days I've been going for little walks with the Colbinator around our development.  Today I ventured out further, packed up the car, and we headed to the pond right outside my school.  It's a beautiful 2-ish mile loop that we walk every so often with the kindergarten classes so I decided to give it a whirl with Colby in the stroller.  He loved it.  Although he was clearly tired (his eyes get so red when he's sleepy!) he stayed WIDE awake the whole time taking in the views- he's such a people watcher.  (His eyes are closed because the sunlight always bothers him!)

I'm fully aware that he is wearing what we are fairly certain is a girl's onesie... but Grammy and Grampy bought it for St. Patty's day... so he got to wear it.  Ignore the glitter.  And real boys were pink.

I was parked in the school lot and when I got back it just so happened to be 5 minutes until the afternoon bell and I caught up with a few parents from last year walking to the lot to pick up their kiddies.  It was nice to see them and even nicer to see my kiddies when they met up with their moms.  I really do miss them--- I'm truly dreading going back to school in the worst way (have I mentioned that we have YET to solidify child care arrangements?) but I am a bit excited to see the kids and to see the progress that they have made over the last 5 (!!!!!) months.  

On a slightly related note, but not really...

As I've been looking for child care (a big mess I admit-- please don't comment on my lack of organization or planning at this stage) I've been dreaming of switching jobs and becoming a fully time nanny so I could bring Colby along.  It seems like it would be the perfect set up and something that I would love.  (I spent every summer during college nannying full time.)  But then I remind myself that I went through 4 years of college to get my degree, multiple super-long tests to get my license, and I'm smack dab in the middle of grad school to continue my license... so I'll stick it out. 

Rolling!

The ball is officially rolling again as of April 21st at 2pm.  Just the first of many appointments before actually starting an IVF cycle, mind you.  But it's exciting just the same!  :)

1 Year Ago

January 27, 2009 we saw our babes for the first time.  As adorable, squishy 6 and 8 celled embryos.

February 7 & 8, 2009 we saw:

February 9, 2009 we heard:

658

February 11, 2009 we heard:

1,362

February 17, 2009 we heard:

8,747

February 23, 2009 we heard:

41,870

And one year ago on March 3, 2009 we saw:

Here's to one year of knowing about BOTH of you boys!!

Last year, the day that we found out with our first ultrasound, Johnny and I went to the mall (during the school day because I wasn't expected back at school for another hour!) and got pretzels. Being the anniversary nut that I am you can guess that I hauled us back there this year!  Only this year we had Colby with us and the memory of Connor in our heart.

And then a photo op with our little miracle.  

The March of Dimes posters were everywhere in the mall.  We took this as a good sign.  As we're in the process of starting IF again (well, by process I mean that we're starting to set up an appointment with my OB for a consultation so that she can set us up with a high risk doctor before we cycle to discuss our options to prevent premature labor and so we can get a referral going again so that we can visit RSC again and start the whole IVF roller coaster again) seeing the MoD posters gave us hope that things will be better next time around.  We will get through a full pregnancy... well, we hope we will.  :)  (There's always that fear in the back of my head that the premature labor wasn't simply because I was carrying twins, but instead due to an IC... which scares me a lot!)

Johnny's Project

A little while ago Johnny finished Colby's letters- and they look great. :) While we were out buying the letters and paints for the letters Johnny also picked up a few other things as a surprise. He worked on painting the surprise over the past few nights and last night he finished his project:

The plaque hangs above Colby's closet door. The paint matches Colby's letters. The angel wings are hand painted by Johnny, too. :) Doesn't it look great?

Work

My dad forwarded this to me... as you know I'm having a hard time with the thought of going back to school.  

A parent sent this letter to my principal 2 years ago when I first started teaching K at my school.  The principal then sent it to me so that I could see what was written about me.  I had then sent it to my parents to show off.  (:))  My dad apparently kept it because 2 years later he forwarded it to me to remind me why I do what I do.  He also told me to make Colby proud.  :)

Good Morning Mrs. Hedin:

I just wanted to take a few minutes to let you know what an enjoyable year our daughter Lauren has had in Mrs. Jamerson's class.

I have had the opportunity to be very involved with the class this past school year and to see how the classroom worked. The transformation of the classroom from September throughout the year has been wonderful! On Back to School Night we visited a very bland room but as the months have passed it has become a cheerful, colorful fun place for the children to learn. I am amazed at the amount of information Lauren has learnt over the year and she is really thriving in her environment.

Regarding Mrs. Jamerson, I cannot say enough about her! The children love her and she teaches in a way that is fun for them to learn.  She is fabulous about communicating with parents via her weekly newsletter, email, memos or her availability to meet.  The extra work she has done to post a website to keep us up to date and posting pictures of activities on line is very much appreciated. And I just love her BEE book, I wish all grades would use it!  I have really enjoyed helping out in the classroom this year and have always felt welcome.

Although Lauren is excited about going to first grade in the fall she does not want to leave Mrs. Jamerson.   Mrs. Jamerson is a wonderful addition to your staff and we couldn't have asked for anyone better to introduce our daughter to her school years.  I only hope she is still on staff when our son enters Kindergarten in a few years.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to another wonderful year next fall.

Sincerely,

Jo-Anne and John B.

Of course- like I've mentioned, if I could choose I'd stay home.  But since that's not a practical option for us right now, I am so grateful that I get to go back to a job that I love.  I really feel like I'm making a difference every day.  And, though I usually feel like pulling out my hair by mid-week, I am lucky to do what I do.  :)  And it doesn't hurt that I get summers off and 3 week-long vacations every year.  :)