Why it's worth it...

Thinking today I realized how happy I am with my life. Obviously, things could always go better but I'm not complaining either. Tim informed me today that he will have over 100 credit hours at Ohio State by the end of Spring Quarter. Which means 2 year of school left, which isn't too bad really. Also, I have a job that helps make ends meet. I'm able to support our family, pay the bills, and still have some to play with afterward and that's something I can never be more grateful for. The down side to things.... I'm working and not home with my little boy. Yes, he can be exhausting at times but I miss him so much. I'm sure people wonder why I don't give him up to people very often. Here's why, from the time he's been 6 weeks, I've been at work from 8:15 til 5:15 Monday through Friday. When I come home, I see him awake for maybe 3 hours....and since he's sleeping through the night I don't see him til 7:30 when I wake up and feed him and head right back out the door. He's my first child and I feel that I don't get to spend a whole lot of time with him. So THAT'S why I don't offer him to people. I still haven't gotten my LEVI fix, and it may be a while before I do.
Anyway, the reason it's all worth it is because I know that Tim and I will get to that point eventually, everything else is temporary. It's worth it because the things I have in front of me everyday make me happy. I have a home, my husband, and my little guy. I love his little ears. His hair that sticks straight up makes me smile. His fat thighs and tiny little butt make my day. And his chubby cheeks and beautiful smile melts me heart in an instant. However... I do not like crying. Which is what I am hearing right now... so not to cut this short but I must attend to the crying child who is freaking out on account of his mother not being within sight. (Oh yes, we are there already) Ta ta!

Cute? Absolutely!

I stink at getting pictures up on the internet. It's just a process that I never feel like doing, but I figured I should at least get a more updated picture of Levi on here. He's such a stinkin cutie and I love him to death. He's developing such an adorable personality and he reminds me of Tim soooo much. He may look like me, but he definitely acts like his father. For example, he smiles when he passes gas or has a bowel movement, and when I TRY to be upset over something small (such as warm baby puke running down the inside of my shirt) he just looks at me and smiles. He reminds me that life is too short to not love every moment. Check out these pictures where I finally was able to get him smiling long enough to capture the moment.

 

This is one the first few pictures where I had to get his attention, keep it on my face, and then take a picture without looking. Levi tends to look right at the camera and stare at it blankly and WILL NOT do anything for us if he's being recorded or if we're trying to take a picture.

 

Finally, EYES on me and starting to smile

  

 There's my baby boy! One of the cutest pictures I got!

  

 Til he smiled like this and I melted.

He does have me wrapped around his little finger. This last picture is one where he woke up early, around 5:30 a.m. and after I fed him he fell asleep and I didn't feel like moving either so I fell asleep as well. Tim discovered us both sleeping in the rocker in Levi's room that morning and decided to take a picture. Priceless huh?

 

Sarah, you're a MOM... GROW SOME!

So..... whenever I have a job interview they ask the basic questions and of course the ones no one is ever sure how to answer. One of those questions being, "What would you say is one of your greatest weaknesses?" Well, anytime I've been in this situation... I've answered the same. I allow others to take advantage of me, walk all over me, and I avoid confrontation even though I have strong feelings about an issue.
Well, in high school that wasn't a problem because I got heated and I lost my temper a lot. Which meant some not so nice words and other crude things. Since becoming more active in my faith, I've learned to tone that down and try to avoid confrontation in any way that I can. Of course I still vent all of my feelings to my husband, and who doesn't?, but those things stay between us. But, I always thought that I would change and learn to stand up for myself a little bit better when I became a mother since it involved a member of my family who couldn't fend for themselves. I would be there to protect him and take care him in every way. Unfortunately, I still have yet to live up to that. I still allow people to give advice I don't need, tell me WHAT I'm doing wrong or right when it comes to how I take care of him.. etc. In fact, I've found myself being to quick to say YES or make others happy so I don't have to say NO. Is this a good thing? I guess it could be in a way, but it doesn't make ME happy. And everyone knows, if momma ain't happy, nobody's happy.
Well, from multiple experiences, my way of saying how I really feel about a situation isn't the best. Apparently I come off very rough, controlling, selfish and a bit prideful or make myself seem like I'm always right.
However, I've decided that I need to learn how to say NO while trying my best not to offend. I just need to grow some and tell others that I can't do something last minute because I've got 10 other things on my plate already. I'm a new mom for goodness sake. I'm still learning and any mom can tell you it's frustrating. I'm also working full time.. I come home and do laundry, cook dinner, and attempt to clean up after myself(which never happens) In fact, I find that I rarely have time or the energy to even take a shower.
This is it, no more being stepped on. No more being taken advantage of. I will help you if I can legitimately do it within reason, but I can't sacrifice parts of my life, my family and their health every time.
As a side note, my body after pregnancy has finally decided to make it's way back to being a woman every month and I would have to say that's it worse than before I was pregnant. So maybe this post is out of crankiness..... but it's here to remind myself that I'm tired of it. I've said it before, but I don't like people telling me what to do..... especially if they have it in their heads that they are SUPERIOR to me because they have more life experience. Sarah is officially growing some and sticking up for not only herself, but her family. Suffer the consequences.... hahahaha!! Just kidding, I'll try my best to be nice about it. Key word = try.

I have a smart hubby!

A few days ago, I thought I was having one of the worst days ever. While at work, I got a call from Levi's daycare and they told me that he had a 101.5 temperature. I had to leave work and make my way over to daycare and get him some Tylenol. On my way, I called Tim and asked him to call the doctor and ask if we could bring him in, as they told us any temp over 101.4 is a reason to call and have him seen. I told him to give me a call back and if they could get him in right away, I would take him from daycare to the Dr.'s office. Once I got to daycare, I gave him medicine and some lovin and Tim still hadn't called me back yet so I stayed a little, talked to the girls, but still no call. Finally, I called Tim and asked him what he knew. He told me that Levi had an appointment at 6, but the reason he hadn't called me back yet was because he was on the phone with his teacher from Clark State. Earlier this year, Tim had applied to a few scholarships based off of the recommendations of his teacher and his thorough encouraging towards Tim. Well, needless to say... Tim got his scholarship!
Tim made the All-Ohio First Team. I didn't really know what this was so I did some research while on my break at work. Turns out, its a program in which college kids who are involved in the community college's honor society Phi Theta Kappa can apply after filling out an application, writing multiple essays, and getting letters of recommendation from their teachers. Tim did all of the above, and with help from his teacher he was able to get it done on time and get it submitted with confidence. Well, all that hard work paid off. He received the call and like I said he made the first team. This means that Tim is one of 10 students in the state of Ohio to receive this award. We will be invited to the state house in April for Tim to receive his recognition award including a certificate, a pin, a medallion, and of course his scholarship. Tim is really looking forward to this not only because of the benefits of this scholarship but because it is a good thing to put on a resume as well as an opportunity to network with some people who are higher in the government. Tim joked later and said how cool would it be if he could get a letter of recommendation from someone in the state judicial system or the governor himself. Like I said, his hard work paid off and only hope it continues in the future. I'm SO PROUD OF HIM!!!!

The Office Condom

So this sounds way worse than it really is. Don't worry, it's not really a condom either. My desk used to belong to an older woman named Judy. She used those rubber fingers to help her sort and flip through pages. Back in October when I first started, I looked though my desk and found a drawer full of supplies. Sticky notes, pens, colored flags, rubber bands, paper clips, highlighters.... etc. Well, today after filling my rubber band supply back up I looked down and saw something white. It was small, about the size of a dime and looked like it was balloon material. When I first saw it, I laughed a little bit and thought it was one of those joke condoms that Spencer's gifts makes that are really tiny. I had to ask David, my co-worker, what it was. Turns out it was another type of rubber finger. It had been on someone's (probably judy's) finger and when she took it off it rolled it up so it was almost flat(like a packaged condom). I didn't start laughin hysterically until I unrolled it the rest of the way. From being rolled up and in the drawer for so long, it now had ribbed sides to it. I HAD to show it to the rest of my co-workers (the women obviously, because the men don't find it as amusing as us girls do) and made almost all of them cry. Lorrie was even on the phone with an insurance company and she was laughing so hard and Debbie, another co-worker of mine said it was some sort of tiny office elf condom trying to have safe sex. She also said those kinds of rubber fingers don't hold up for very long, so I guess multiple uses are not recommended. No more 99.9% effective I guess.
 Love my job, love the people I work with.
p.s. I took a picture of our office condom with my phone, will post soon!