Time Flies with a Toddler

So it's been since January that I have blogged, and I refuse to do a what-has-happened-in-9-months-update. Instead, I'll focus on the present and future. I'll be finishing up with school in may, and am in the works of a beauty/fashion advice blog. We shall see how that goes. The family is all good. Just ready for some positive changes to take place with upon my completion of school and whatnot. And yea, that's really is. I'm also thinking it's time to get a hard copy of all of my blogs posts and shut this thing down. It's lived a good life, and served it's purpose as a pregnancy/early motherhood diary to read Mason one day.

Long time, no see

Things that have happened recently.
-Christmas (awesome)
-Mason's first haircut (bittersweet)
-I came off the waiting list in school! I will officially be a cosmetology student in April!
-It's snowed like ridiculously crazy. Wth.
And yeah, that about sums it up. I really need to take some time to redesign my blog. It's a little outdated.
Anyway, I am super excited about starting classes. I've been waiting since last summer to come off the waiting list. It's definitely going to strain our budget more since I'll have to put Mason back in daycare, but still won't be able to work. It's already difficult for us to save, but we better start trying since daycare is $100 per week.

I know in the end there is a huge payoff. Hopefully by the end of the year I will be licensed and working! My main focus will be hair (cut and color), but I'm addicted to makeup. I want to be able to offer my clients the best of both, so I'm really excited about learning.

Also, does anyone have any good personal recs for a laptop? I'm attempting to save up (buy selling some around the house things) and hopefully get one soon. We have a home pc, but with a toddler, well I can't just leave him unattending and run upstairs to websurf, blog, etc.

Blah, whatever. End of blog.

Christmas Cards!

After browsing through the usual websites for photo Holiday cards (snapfish, walgreens, walmart, etc), I came across Shutterfly. I've always heard great things about the website, and after hearing about their great deal on 50 free cards, I thought I'd really check into it. They have an adorable selection of contemporary, tradtional, and even vintage cards! They are also printed on cardstock, which will hold up better than the photo paper I have previously has my cards printed on. I've picked out about 5 that I absolutely love, and will have a difficult time choosing which card to go with this year!

Of course I don't have 50 people to send cards to, so I know I will either need to find more friends soon or else I'm going to have a lot left over! :) Here are a few of my favorites!

 

Going on 14 months!

This is a little early, but what the heck. Mason will be 14 months old next week and I thought it was time for an update on the little guy.

He loves cheese toast, strawberry poptarts, dancing, 'singing', and giving kisses. He has improved on his walking tremendously. It seems like we went from two-four steps at a time to running around the living room.

Spongebob is still his favorite show, and loves everything Spongebob related.

He's going to be a garden gnome for Halloween. Why? Well first of, it's just a cute as crap costume. Secondly, Mason has been fascinated with garden gnomes for months. He calls them 'babies' and giggles everytime he sees one. He even has two little garden gnomes that his Mimi got him for his birthday.

His favorite words are 'Daddy' and 'Baby'. Here are some of the words he's recently added to his vocabulary: bubbles, poop, 'Mimi!' (finally), ball, juice, cup, water (wawa), bam (when he bangs toys around), book (sounds like boot), and a few others I can't recall at the moment.

He says 'Mmmmm!' to everything tasty he puts in his mouth, and loves his toy broom.

We are officially done with the bottle, and I'm ready to get rid of the pacifier next.

He healed amazingly well from his orchiopexy, with just a few small scars as his battle wounds.

He is into everything and a ball of happiness and curiosity.

I love being at home with him. He is the easiest baby around.

He climbed into my lap a few days ago and my heart melted. He cMe over to me on a different occasion and gave me a giant bear hug. That was a first. I still haven't gotten over how sweet and wonderful his tiny baby hug was.

He makes me the happiest I've ever been.

I love my growing, sweet, happy Mason.

Job Hunt

So I've been unemployed since July 9th, and have submitted my resume or filled out applications for more than 30 jobs. Discouraging? I'd say so. To not be able to provide any additional income for my family, to not be able to buy Mason the things he wants/needs, and to not be able to pay the bills, well it's all getting to me.

I can't force someone to hire me. I wish it was easy to get a job. It's like I've done all I can do, but the rest is out of my control. And I absolutely hate it.

If I was in my cosmetology classes, I may not feel like such a loser. However, I am on the waiting list until March, which is when I'll start. Until then I need to work, and I'm running out of options.

I hate being broke. I hate being unemployed. I love being home with Mason. Thank God he keeps me sane. Most moms gripe and moan about their terrorist children they have to stay with all day. I wouldn't lose a minute without my little buddy. He's the best baby ever.

So cross your fingers for me, and send positive job getting vibes my way. I desperately need them.

Orchiopexy

That is the name of the procedure that Mason had yesterday. When he was born, his right testicle had not decended. Sometimes this can naturally drop down on it's own within the first year, but in Mason's case it obviously didn't. He was also unable to be circumsized, so he had both performed yesterday at Floyd by Dr. Jessie.

When he was born, I almost knew that this would be inevitable. Well, I knew Mason probably wouldn't be one of the lucky few who would have the issue corrected naturally. So for the past two weeks I have been a nervous wreck in anticipation of his surgery day.

We arrived at Floyd at 6:30am. Unfortunately with the Mr's job (not an understanding one), he was unable to join us. I know that made him even more of a nervous wreck. Luckily my mom was able to take the day off and join us, so I was definitely less anxious when she arrived.

After all of the paperwork, and all of the waiting, Mason was given his cocktail to help him relax. And he definitely did just that! The poor guy was as limp as a dish rag. Ha

Around 10:15, they took him back for surgery, and it ended around 1:30. After some more waiting, I finally got to see him a little after 2. Groggy and confused, he sat in my lap and downed two cups of apple juice. I was so glad to see he was okay, and happy to finally have this past us.

We got home and Mason ate some Spaghettios and crashed. He slept for around 6 hours, woke up for an hour and a half, then slept all night. Today he's happily playing like this never happened.

Three incisions later, and my son is happy and healthy. After a year of fear and dread it's finally over.

No one wants to see their child in any pain whatsoever. As parents we continually have to make decisions for what is best for our children. I wanted to have this surgery done as soon as possible, so tht Mason wouldn't have any recollection whatsoever. And now it's a thing of the past.

Dr. Jessie is an amazing doctor with such a positive disposition, and I would recommend him to anyone. The nurses as Floyd Surgery Center were amazing as well. It was a long day for sure, but they kept us updated frequently and assured us that Mason was in excellent hands.

My mom was a wonderful supporter to us, and took my mind off my anxiety. We joke about how we go completely crazy when stuck in hospitals for lengthy periods of time, but we always manage to make it stress free. I couldn't thank you enough for being there Mom, it really meant a lot to me.

Thanks to everyone for thinking of us, all your well wishes and checking in yesterday, and support. I have such a large group of famiy and friends that are wonderfully supportive and amazing.

On the road to recovery!

And sorry for the typos, I'm posting from my IPhone, which is a whole hell of a lot different that sitting at the computer.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken yesterday afternoon at Berry College by our wedding photographer Mike Robertson. Here are just a few of my favorites! He does an amazing job!