SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS

No... sadly they weren't actual shots. These were the less fun kind. Julian got his first round of immunizations yesterday. It was three shots in total. I've never seen anyone turn so red! It looked like he was going to burst. Poor little guy was so mad. He was a champ as usual though and quickly calmed down.

 

No, he's not crying, he's yawning :)

Later that night he was crying harder when he was hungry but other than that he did great. I guess he gets it from me. When I was little I actually would laugh when I got a shot, but now I don't really react at all. I don't know how Renato handled his shots... I'll have to ask.

Before he got his shots, I got a little poke of my own. I got an IUD, which was pretty uncomfortable. I'm still sore. It's weird that the pain is actually focused more in my hip socket and not in my abdomen anymore.

So now Julian is protected from a slew of horrible diseases, and I'm protected from having another little Julian!

Home with the Kids

Throughout my entire pregnancy, I had always planned to return to work part-time after a two or three month break. During this time I would relax, take care of Julian, and the usual new-mom stuff. On April 1st, just two weeks before he was born, I left work. Now two months have passed since he was born and Renato and I have decided that I will not go back to work.

He was actually the one to bring it up to me. About two weeks ago, there was one day where I only got about three hours of sleep and it really kicked my ass. I felt terrible the entire day, and I guess how I was acting freaked him out a bit, because the next day he suggested I continue to stay home.

It was honestly a relief. I can't imagine going to work right now, even for part time. Renato's mom recently went back to work, and even before that she rarely wanted to babysit. He works nights and sleeps during the part of the day where I would probably be working. Julian still isn't sleeping through the night and barely gives me time to get ready each day. So going to work would be really tough, and I'm grateful that he brought it up so I didn't have to! 

I've settled into a nice routine the past couple of weeks, finally. With Renato's mom working, I've been taking care of his little brother Diego as well. He just finished 3rd grade and started summer break, so it's even more important that I'm home so I can watch him as well as Julian. I like the slow pace of my days staying at home, and I've got a decent amount of room to do my own thing. It's not all cooking and cleaning, luckily. But it's also not the cute fantasy I sometimes had of wearing adorable aprons and baking cupcakes all day (although I do have a Minnie Mouse apron... so I don't see why I'm not doing those things!!!)

Honestly I've wanted to be a stay at home mom for a couple years now. I never thought it would happen this soon - I imagined this way later, in my late twenties or early thirties. I really like the idea of homeschooling (at least the early years), even though my own attempt at it completely failed. And Renato and I have talked a lot about the choice between money or time together. We both agreed that we'd rather make less money with part-time jobs, but have more time together, than make more money with full time jobs and have less time together.

He just got a promotion and raise, so me being out of work isn't making a big dent in our finances. In my last job I made just about as much as his raise has added. But I do want to try and sell some stuff on Etsy to make a little extra cash. I sold a couple things a few years ago and it went well, I just didn't work very hard at it. Maybe this time, since I've got a bit more motivation, it can actually grow into a regular little business.Stay tuned, hopefully by this week I'll have something up for sale!!!

Back online... and I hate it!

Ok, so hate is a strong word. BUT I do really dislike a lot of the habits that I've created online. Last Friday, Renato's brother ordered internet service. I don't notice a huge change in how we interact with each other, but I do notice myself every time I am wastefully surfing the web.

One of the biggest things I changed online was that I deleted about 100 people off of my Facebook almost the first day of being back. I didn't talk to these people, I hardly knew these people, and in some cases I didn't even like these people! It was ridiculous. There's still people I could delete but even that is a waste of time for me. I'm probably just going to use it to share news and pictures about Julian for now on anyway. I also really want to delete my Twitter, tumblr... there's accounts out there that I barely remember creating, and only a rare email from them will remind me.

I really want to focus on the good things on the internet. When I'm breastfeeding Julian at night, it gets pretty boring. That's when I watch a lot of Youtube. I try and stay with educational videos, with stuff like hair and nail tutorials. I've also gotten back into raw food and have discovered Megan Elizabeth and Kristina. I love their videos and their energy! It's inspired me to seriously up my fruit and veggie intake. I've probably eaten as many fruits and veggies in the last two days as I normally would in a whole month!!! It's tough when I'm not doing a lot of the grocery shopping, but I really want to change, and I need to so that Julian can get the best nutrition possible as well.

I also want to write on here as much as possible, and really bring something positive if I can. Like this post: I want you to question how you use the internet too. Just like the guy I mentioned in my last post, I realized that the internet isn't to blame for our bad habits. I ended up watching a lot of crappy daytime TV without the internet (like TMZ - eww!!) I'm glad I didn't have real cable or else it would have been even worse. We need to take responsibility for all of our actions. Those online can sometimes be abstract, because we're not really "doing" anything, so it's easy for those actions to seem out of our hands or not our responsibility. But if you're lazy, you'll be lazy with or without the internet. There's just a lot of useless crap out here that can easily distract even the most driven and motivated person and turn them into someone who seems lazy. Now I'm always asking myself, "What else could I be doing?" If it's something I enjoy more, something that needs to get done, or just something more productive then I get up and do it.

There's a lot of great stuff out there on the web. Instead of watching stupid cat videos, watch a TED Talk or something educational. Instead of reading everybody's drama on Facebook, find an interesting article or blog to read. Download some eBooks, learn a new skill, or better yet, just get off every now and then and do something, ANYTHING else.