isolated

Our cloth diapered baby. Ryan said we needed a picture of her with just a diaper on. Here they are. I know, she's so cute!

At Which Wich for a little date night with Ryan. He came home with a pretty bouquet of tulips and took me to get a fun sandwich and chocolate shake.
She's such a big girl with her sippy cup.
Playing with her ugly doll. We are tying to help her foster an attachment to something so that when we drop her off at church or at the rec center, she'll have something familiar that will comfort her.


Ryan's word is "shafted", mine are more like "isolated" or "lonely". Yup, it's Sunday afternoon and we're lying low. I hate to complain, and this is not a post to evoke pity... I just want to be honest and feel that sometimes it helps me to write out these feelings. All weekend, Ryan and I have felt a bit sad and shut out. We feel that more and more often, we are spending Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays alone. It's as if having a baby has somehow eliminated us from all previous social circles. Quite often, unless WE make plans with people and initiate, we don't have plans. And even with us being the ones who do most of the inviting, it still feels as if the majority of the time, people have better offers. Sometimes, I grow weary of always being the one to try to get people together and wish that someone else would give us an invite. And, to top it all off, the homemade bread I just pulled from the bread machine (that was supposed to make spending the evening at home more special) is a hard lump of salty, dense dough. How did that happen? Sigh...

I am thankful that I have Ryan as my best friend and that makes this stage of our lives so much less lonely. I don't know what I would do without him around to cook with, go on walks with, change our baby after huge blowouts with, laugh with, or vent to. I really don't. And, I wouldn't trade Coranelle for the social life that we used to have. Never. I just didn't expect this and will have to keep it in mind when our friends and family decide to have babies.

In other news, we are working on baby proofing the house because Coranelle is a pretty efficient scooter. I think the full-on crawling will come soon. We have outlet plugs in, foam around the coffee table and fireplace edges and baby gates on the stairs as well as cabinet locks are coming soon. We also have a mesh barrier that we tied up between the banisters on our staircases. This is not a cheap endeavor! But, it will be worth it.

I am also going to start taking some Continuing Education classes through the University of Phoenix in February. I had planned to get my masters while being at home, but long story short- it is way too expensive for the minimal pay raise I would receive when I returned to teaching. So, continuing ed classes and professional development classes seem like the better plan, as they will also move me up on the pay scale and be easier on the budget as well as allow for a more flexible schedule in taking classes. My first class is Spanish for Educators level II and I am really excited about it. It is all the vocabulary and cultural knowledge that I wished I had at the school I used to teach at. I will learn how to communicate to Spanish speaking parents about their child's behavior, educational progress, and the things they are working on in school. I think it will be a great way for me to keep up with my Spanish and fun to have a challenge in my life that does not center around an infant. The university offers lots of classes that interest me, so I am looking forward to taking a few of them while I am at home.

For those of you who have been asking- Amanda is currently stuck in Miami, Florida. She went with the owner of the orphanage and some other volunteers to take 83 kids to be picked up by their adopting American families. What a blessing that all of those kids are now with their "forever families". Amanda and the other GLA staff are now stuck in Miami, as they are not letting charter planes back into Haiti. So, keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they try to get back to Haiti in order to get the remaining kids to Canada to their new families.

I hope that all of you enjoyed your weekends. Thanks for reading!