Update

Jake is out shopping with Dean so I have a few minutes for an update.

School started for me last week and so far it has been great. It already feels so much easier than it did last year. I hope, hope, hope that my kids don't get crazy. I remember then being good in the first few weeks and then showing their true colors, so I hope that things are good when my kids finally get comfortable enough to be themselves.

The whole family is doing great. Dean has been sick a few times recently but is generally happy and pretty well behaved. No sign of the terrible twos yet. I've read a few book to get ideas on how to handle disciple so I feel more prepared than I did before. Dean's a real cutie pie and just absolutely love him. I can't stop kissing him and giving him plenty of attention. I worry about spoiling him. Going back to school wasn't that difficult but I do wonder if he misses us during the day. Last week he actually didn't cry and beeline it for me when I walked in. He kept playing with his toy. My, how things change. :)

We also have an addition to the family. Jake's niece, Katie, is staying with us this year. It was a last minute thing to get her away from a bad high school with gang problems. She moved here from North Carolina and I really enjoy having she. She's a lovely girl. Now, we just need to figure out how we are going to do more permanent room arrangements.

I also had great news from Wendy but I'll let her make a post about it before I say too much. And for those of you who might jump to crazy conclusions about that.... she is NOT pregnant. Exciting stuff - my life just got BETTER!

Dean Walking

Dean started really walking about 2 weeks ago. I think he just needed to build his confidence. I've posted a video below.

Update

It's been so long that I don't even know what to write about. I've been having a good summer of no work getting a lot accomplished that I put off last year while working way too hard on my new job, taking classes, and spending time with Dean.

So far this summer we've gone to Las Vegas, hung out at the house, and we're going camping up north with Wendy, my Dad, and families. I really need to get around to posting pictures.

Dean happens to have been sick today and I'll take him to the doctor if he still has a fever tomorrow.

Dean is my super cutie pie. Let me tell you some things. He's currently 14 months and still not walking on his own. I really think he could but just lacks the confidence. He's constantly jabbering just like Jake does and he has a huge stubborn streak. It seems like he's constantly smiling and every day just get easier with him. I'm hoping things will continue to go uphil rather than down.

The cat that we have at the new house has been absolutely amazing with Dean. Dean hits her, hugs her by laying down on her, pulls on her paws, and she keeps coming back for more. They are best buds. I think they love each other.

I'll try to post more pics later.

Parking Car

Oh my gosh so funny. Watch this person try to park her car. If you notice the amount of time running at the bottom, we don't see the whole fiasco. It actually takes more than four minutes. I also wonder why the person started to video the car. Maybe she was having problems for a few minutes before that. So funny!

More Dean Pictures

Dean's Helmet

Yes, I do still exist. I feel like I don't even have time to post this, but I figure it's probably to important to keep everyone posted. :)

Since Dean was born with congenital torticollis he's been sleeping on the right side of his head. He still keeps his head to one side most of the time. Because of this he has developed a flat spot on the back of his head. His left eye (to us it's his right) is also slightly squinty still, even with all the work we've done to put him on his left side during naps.

Jake and I went to see an orthetist about this and we ended up getting a helmet. They told us we could go either way. There were four things they measured. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the worst, Dean was a 2, 2, 2, and 3. He was on the lower side, but they said his eye probably wouldn't get any better if we didn't do this and it's better to get it done early so we just decided to go with it.

Luckily Dean doesn't even seem to notice his helmet. It hasn't been too much of a problem at all. We will likely decorate it over the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to get some picture right away so everyone can see his new look. :)

Pictures

At the zoo.

At the park with friends.

Dean giving me love.

Sleeping....

This is the best shot I could get of the tooth. It's impossible to get a good picture. :)

I saw dean's first tooth

I saw dean's first tooth today!

Dean rolled over all by

Dean rolled over all by himself last night!

Quick Update - I'm not Dead

I'm just taking a moment to check in to let everyone know that I'm still alive. I've been extremely busy in my first month of teaching and next week I start my credential classes again. I'm not sure if I'll be able to blog much in the upcoming months.

We are good. Dean is as cute as ever and I am VERY SORRY that I've been so bad at getting everything updated. Maybe I'll try to blog a bit from my phone when I have some time - just to get something new up.

Not much time to say anything else right now. I start my next class on Monday and I actually have to drive into Los Angeles and go in person. What a drag.

Dean's Sleeping

Dean has started to be able to lift himself up and turn his head when he's lying on his stomach. Once he turns his head to the left it looks like he might get stuck and he doesn't turn his head back to the right very well. A couple of times it looked like he might end up with his face down in the mattress, so we've started him sleeping on his back again. He still sleeps pretty well, although not as well as he used to.

My friend Brixie made me some things that have been very useful. They are posted in the picture above. They are very heavy, the outside is a very soft material and I think they are filled with rice although I'm not sure. They not only keep Dean in place really well, but they also make it possible to prop Dean on his side a little bit so he doesn't always have the same side of his head on the mattress. If you remember I said that Dean is getting a flat spot on one side of his head. He seems to eventually wriggle himself back to the side he likes, but I think his flat spot would be worse if we didn't have these to turn him the other way a little bit. Thanks Brixie! They have been very cool.

Good Things for Dean

Dean still loves to play under his hanging toys. Jake is brillant and put the mirror obove him so that he can look at himself. This can keep him entertained for over half an hour which is really good for Dean.

Hair Loss

I know it's normal after pregnancy, but sheesh, I'm sure I'll be bald in no time with the rate it's falling out. Jake is complaining about my hair being everywhere. It's even worse for me since it's coming off of MY head. It's getting all over everything!

Pictures

I am once again way behind in getting up pictures of Dean.

Resignation Letter

Today I turned in my resignation letter to Cal Poly Pomona. It's kind of sad considering that I've worked there for eight years. I really will miss the College of Science. It was a good job.

It turns out that my supervisor is on vacation until the 25th so I didn't have to face him yet. I might try to go over to CPP tomorrow to pick up all of my things. How sad. :(

I can't believe it's already August. I haven't been doing a whole lot between working and taking classes. Today is my day off before I begin my next class tomorrow. I think I'm going to try to do a very fast switcheroo on Monday to change the class that I'm in. I'm supposed to teach two lessons in a class next month, but I don't know anyone who has a class. Besides that I'm way too busy with school. I'd rather use my own classroom in the future to do my lesson. I'll have to see how fast I can get another book if I can switch to a new class.

I just wanted to check in and post this cute picture of Micah from when he came to visit last week.

Below is Dean at his two month doctor visit.

And these are two pictures of dean from last week.

Doctor Appointment

Dean had his two month doctor appointment on Tuesday. It was terrible to have him get his shots. He cried during the shots and then quite a bit that night. Jake has said that Dean won't sleep in our bed with us, but guess where he was that night - right in the middle of us. It was so sad to see him not feeling well. Someone suggested that next time we get some baby tylenol. I wish I would have heard about that before so I could have helped him to feel better. Poor little guy. :(

Dean Smiling

Pam Update

On July 3rd, I went back to work three days a week. I was offered some hours counseling over at West Los Angeles College. I got back into the flow very quickly. I really like my job over there - it's interesting and is usually fun as long as it's not too busy. Jake has been working from home the three days that I go to WLAC and he seems to have an easier time with Dean than I do. I've been taking notes on the weekends to see if I can get some tips on how to get more done when I'm home. I hope no one thinks less of me when I say it felt good to go back to work. I think I don't get out enough when I'm at home since I need to do schoolwork and am way to stressed about that to go do anything fun. After I'm finished with these classes I'm probably going to have to go find new friends. I've alienated the ones I had and if I have a lot of free time I'm going to have to find something to do. Jake doesn't come home until 7pm or later every night and I'm not going to sit at home waiting for him.

Anyway, I wasn't going to say anything here until I told my Cal Poly job, but I figure the chances are low that anything will get back to them before I have a chance to turn in my notice. I just accepted a teaching position at Sierra Vista High School in Baldwin Park for the upcoming school year. I will be teaching 9th grade Biology. I'm excited and scared at the same time. It's going to be an extremely difficult year, but I'm sure I can get through it. It's strange to realize that I won't be going back to Cal Poly Pomona. I had a really good job over there and I'll miss everything. I hope I won't regret leaving!

As for this month, my class is much easier than most of the ones in the past. Last month I had the instructor from hell. This month our instructor seems pretty laid back and seems to be a nice guy. I might actually have time to breath a little bit - which is why I'm able to take time to blog right now. And how I was able to visit Emilio and Andrew last night for a barbeque. :)

Things are going pretty well. This week I get to observe in a Biology summer school classroom which should be interesting and Wendy and Micah are coming in next weekend so we get to see family which will be very nice. I'm going to pick Wendy's brain to try to prepare for teaching next year.

Our Pasadena house is back on the market. We finally got the 2nd unit thing cleared up (at least I think it is) with the help of a friend who knew some people to talk to in LA county - thank goodness!! The bad new is that the JERK who caused all these problems for us likely cost us a ton of money. We had a previous offer to purchase the property at about $100,000-$150,000 more than we will be able to get for it right now. With the drop in the housing market we will likely make nothing on the project even with all the work we put into it. I'm just trying not to think about it so I don't get too upset. I just want to sell it and be done with it!

Lastly, I seem to have stalled with 15 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-pregnacy weight - and I just ate a reeses pieces ice cream flurry. I really need to get my act together. Maybe when Dean is old enough I'll take him out in the jogging stroller.

That's all for now. I'm typing one handed now since Dean woke up and it's a lot slower. :)

Dean Update

Dean is getting bigger every day. At some point I stopped picking out his smallest clothes for him to wear because I assumed they wouldn't fit. I didn't say anything to Jake and last week he put Dean in one of the onsies and it was ridiculously small. He came out to show me and then went back to change his outfit. So last week I went through Dean's dresser and pulled out about 10 things that don't fit anymore. It's kind of sad to see how much he's changed, but at the same time there is a lot of good things to go along with how much bigger he's getting.

Yesterday Dean also got his first hair cut. Actually, Jake cut his hair. Dean had a mullet going on with long hair at the back of his neck. It seemed like it kept getting pulled when we held him or changed his clothes, so Jake decided it was time to cut it. It was so sad to watch his hair go - I actually thought about keeping a lock of it. I decided against keeping the hair, but I will definitely keep one of the onesies that we had to put in the too small pile. I'll keep the "Dean Jacob" shirt that Wendy made me since no one else would probably wear it anyway with Dean's name on it.

Dean has also begun to smile somewhat often. It's very rewarding to entertain him when I see him smiling back at me. He's definitely not at Kiya levels of smiling, but I hope he will be someday. :) He's been so much more aware of the things going on around him. It's getting interesting to interact with him.

On the subject of his neck turning, he's looking to the left about an inch further than before, but we're still trying to get his appointment with the physical therapist. It's been impossible to work with the doctor's offices. They're slow and don't always call back when I leave a message. I think we're going to change our pediatrician because of our bad experience with that office. Dean has started to get a noticeable flat spot on the back of his head because he ALWAYS sleeps on the side that he can look toward. I really don't want him to have a flat head on one side so Jake and I have put him to sleep on his stomach the last three nights. I know that we've been told to always have babies sleep on their backs, but for years and years and years, it was the other way around (including for most of us) and we are all alive and well, so I'm not too worried. It's hard to know which is worse since I haven't been able to talk to Dean's doctor - a flat head or sleeping on his stomach?