The Elfering Blog

Lotsa Updates

Posted By Jill on August 30, 2008

I’ve been quite busy lately. It’s late, but I wanted to post an update of the goings-on of the week before it all escapes my memory.

Mac
Mac has learned quite a bit this week. Since his check-up, we have tried some new foods since the doctor said he can have just about anything we do. Because our meals are still not on a regular schedule with both Jeremy and me being so busy, we still make sure we have baby food, cereal and Kix so he continues to learn to eat from a spoon and with his fingers. He picks up the food very well but still does struggle to get it into his mouth. He has also started to practice with a sippy cup. We have a ways to go with that one! He still loves to sit up by himself, but now he’ll reach for our hands when we’re sitting in front of him - when we put our hands out he uses them to pull to stand up. He loves it! He does spend some time on his tummy still and is just starting to scoot a little bit. Today he really moved when I was talking to my mom on my iPhone through the speaker! Mac is still a very good boy. We went out for Jo’s birthday, and he ate before our food came, then he napped in his stroller during our dinner. We are so spoiled! He’s been sleeping quite a bit lately, which I’m told is probably due to a growth spurt, and he’ll probably start crawling soon.

The House
We’ve done a ton of work unpacking. I worked on the upstairs bathroom last week putting shelf paper in after cleaning the cabinets and unpacking all our stuff. It was nice to finally get those boxes out of the bathtub! While my mom was here, she was very helpful watching Mac and helping clean. She even scrubbed the grout in the shower and scrubbed the kitchen floor on her hands and knees! I also painted a wall in the kitchen. It’s the same color, but there were lots of holes we patched, and unfortunately the paint we got matched but the sheen wasn’t right, so I painted the whole wall where it was worst.

We also worked on unpacking a bunch more miscellaneous boxes and putting things a way. And of course there was more laundry! I think I have all my clothes now and have sent some to the Goodwill box, packed up the maternity clothes for storage ,and put my winter clothes together in our new cedar closet. The linens should all be unpacked now too - we have lots of extras! We plan to continue to store our new bathroom stuff until we have done our redecorating in the upstairs bathroom, but we are using our “new” (wedding present) comforter on our bed now! I’ve also washed and started to store all the extra blankets and such that we have from our two households. Our Goodwill pile is up to about seven boxes already. My computer (PC) and small desk got put back together so I could pay bills, but my office/guest bedroom will wait for final setup until we’re done poly-ing the floor in that room - we just started it tonight. We were waiting on that so we could set up the bed for my mom’s visit. I also met the former resident of our house yesterday, and today she came over to show me around the garden. It was very helpful, and she was so nice to spend the time. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I should be able to get it back to looking pretty good. It probably will never be as good as it was, but I’ll do what I can!

Work
I started back to work last week with teacher workshops. Our new principal had things planned out very well. We worked a full day Monday, then Tuesday we had meetings in the morning, then lunch, then a Penn campus meeting that I didn’t have to attend. Wednesday was a Nicollet campus meeting that I did have to attend, then we were done at lunchtime. We got everything accomplished, so we didn’t have to go in Thursday at all, and Friday was scheduled off. Things are going pretty well, though I admittedly don’t like to spend more time than necessary in the building. I am trying to do as much as I can from home so I can play with my little boy!

I was supposed to teach two technology classes this week. We ended up postponing my Monday class and only doing one on Tuesday because the teachers were pretty burnt out Monday with all the information they had thrown at them. That was not the audience I wanted when introducing something new! Tuesday’s class was in the morning, and they were all much more fresh. They seemed to really enjoy the class - on digital media use, VoiceThread and Movie Maker - and I got some great feedback. They sound excited to try new things for the most part, which is energizing for me as we start the school year.

The Week
Saturday morning Mom arrived and came to our house. I was very excited that she would finally be able to stay with us! Saturday night we went to Mass at Visitation where Timmy was serving (he’s actually the “master of ceremonies”) then had the whole family over for dinner and a game that Timmy brought and wanted to teach us. Sunday was our family fantasy football draft at Jo’s with lots of yummy food, sun and fun! Sunday night I headed home without Mac for a couple hours to get some work done for the next day with teacher workshops starting and my technology classes to prepare.

Because my mom was in town, Mac didn’t have to go to daycare all week. He actually spent Monday with his grandma so that my mom could go see CJ’s new school and spend some time with Jo and her family, then that evening Jeremy and I went out to celebrate our anniversary while Mac stayed with them. We went to Fogo de Chao for dinner (yum!) and then for a walk around the sculpture garden at the Walker, which I had never seen before. Tuesday Mac went with my mom to Jane’s to hang out until I was done with work, and that evening, Mom, Mac and I went to Timmy’s soccer game. Wednesday, Mac & Mom stayed at our house since I only had to work a half day. Thursday Mom, Mac and I got to spend the whole day together, then Mom went to Steph’s back-to-school night to meet her teacher and see her classroom. Friday we had Jo, Steph and CJ over for breakfast (I actually sang for a funeral while Mom cooked for them) and then went out later to Lake Minnetonka for Jo’s birthday. Today the Begalkes came over for breakfast again before Mom had to go home.