Sad day

Yesterday was my last day at the daycare :(

This was the hardest decision I've ever had to make in my life and I still don't feel that it was the right one at times.  I got this job right out of college and my sister-in-law had called me and said they just got rid of their director, got an interim director and she's looking for an assistant to get everything straightened out (because the most recent one had literally left things in shambles).  I became the assistant director in June and the lady who was brought on temporarily as director asked me if I was interested in becoming the director because she didn't want to do it.  I immediately told her no because I kind of had an idea of what it involved and it was one of those jobs where you had to immerse yourself in.  She probably asked me three more times before I finally had enough time to think it over and decided that I would take a few more classes online and get my director's license, and by January I was the director.  For the time being it was the perfect job for me.  I was about to get married and didn't have any kids yet so I could give 100% of myself to the daycare and get it back on the right tracks.  Colton and I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to stay there forever because the pay wasn't great and the stress level was extremely high but for the time being it worked.  Ever since I've been there I've known that I could be making more money somewhere else but I didn't want to leave because I LOVED this job.  The more time I have to think about it I really feel that this is my passion.  I loved getting to work at 7 and leaving at 6, I know I know call me crazy but I enjoyed spending time at my job.  I loved seeing the kids every day and even though I didn't like dealing with a lot of the drama that came up with parents and employees, I still could honestly say that I loved getting out of bed every morning and going to work and I know not many people can honestly say that.

But ever since Korbyn was born I've had this instinctual feeling that I need to be providing more.  Yes, my paycheck helped pay some bills and yes, I was able to take Korbyn to work with me but I always had this feeling in my gut that I needed to be doing more.  And on top of all that, I was kind of starting to get burnt out.  I hate to say it but I was.  I still enjoyed the job, but even my mom told me when I was discussing this with her that she knew I wouldn't be there too long because she knew I would get burnt out.  She said every time she would talk to me I would be talking about the daycare or having to answer my phone regarding work and she said she saw me pour myself into this place and she knew eventually it would have to end.

So I slowly started looking for a new job and amazingly in two days I had landed one.  On Tuesday I will be a new employee at Insurance Network of Texas...bleh.  I'm not excited AT ALL.  I don't know the first thing about insurance!  But they said that they'll train me and get me up to speed on everything of course.  I keep telling myself that I need to do this so I know I'm NOT meant for it.  But, this job means that I'll have benefits (which I didn't have before), and Korbyn and I couldn't get on Colton's because it would cost over $1,000/month to add her and myself...can you believe that?!?!  I'll be bringing in more money and I won't have the stress.  So I think there will be some good things and bad things, mainly just getting adjusted to a completely different atmosphere.  But we'll see how it goes.

Baby food update

So I tried putting the baby food in a bottle with a couple ounces of formula...and she ate it up!!!  And she has every time, so I know she likes the baby food and she can handle it the little turd just doesn't like the spoon!  I've also tried a couple times since then to feed her with a spoon and she'll take one or two bites then refuse to eat it but then minutes later will finish it all in a bottle.  I think we're going to have hell when we have to wean her off of that thing. 

We took a trip to the dr. last week because we had "hand, foot, and mouth disease" going around at the daycare (only a couple kids actually had it).  But we sent a kid home because they had sores all in their mouth and a little while later the mom called and said they had the virus.  So then we're checking kids out like crazy looking for sores in their mouth or a rash on their hands or feet, and the other symptoms were drooling and loss of appetite.  When Jennifer and I get done checking kids I sit back down in the office and all of a sudden I just say "Oh crap!"  Korbyn has been drooling like crazy the past couple of days and she has not finished a bottle, we thought she was just teething.  So when I go back in her room to check her they actually tell me that she has a rash all over her hands and her stomach!  We were able to get in to the dr. that same afternoon and he said she doesn't have the hfm disease but she has a strain of the virus called herpangina.  Well he must have seen the horror streak across my face when he uttered that name because he looked at me and then quickly said "no, no, it's ok, it has nothing to do with herpes or her vagina!"  I said "ok, well that's a really awful name!!!"  He said unless she starts running a fever she's fine, and the worst that will happen with her is she may get an extremely sore throat, he said it'll be so sore to just give her motrin around the clock and DON'T let 6 hours go by because she will be in pain if you do!  But thankfully she never got fussy or a fever.  Then I told him that she will not eat baby food and what should I do, he said don't worry about it.  He said there are probably more babies that don't like to eat baby food than do.  He said just to give her as much table food as she can handle...YAY!  I was actually really surprised that he said that, of course limiting it to all those foods they can't have until they're a year.  So I'm going to continue to give her baby food in her bottle but now I put her in her high chair at home with whatever veggies and anything else she can eat and she loves it!  She can actually pick the food up and put it in her mouth now so it's fun for her to feed herself.  I even took the menus at daycare and highlighted all the food she can have.  Yesterday her teacher asked if she could eat a graham cracker and I was like "NO!  She'll choke on it!"  Well she eventually convinced me otherwise and the little girl ate a half of one and she would scream if her teacher wouldn't give her more soon enough!  I'm glad that she can eat table food now, it makes it SO much easier!  Oh, and when we went to the dr. Korbyn weighed 20 lbs!!!  She's the size of a one year old!

Daycare pics

Her teachers always send me the cutest and funniest pictures!

I LOVE this smile on Korbyn, she looks like such a big girl!

 What a goofball

 Ha Ha!  She looks like she's eating her face off!

 I laughed so hard when Jenn sent me this picture.  We had "clown day" for our three year old class and their teachers painted their faces.

 She sent me this and said "we don't like squash!"

This is her cousin Kyndal, thankfully they'll get to grow up together because they're only a month apart!

Cute sleeper

I LOVE how Korbyn sleeps now!  It's so cute!  I wonder why babies sleep like that though?  Their hands under their tummy with their butt high in the air.  I told Colton it's probably because their diaper is so full of pee that they're trying to get off of it lol!  And I also don't understand how she can easily get her legs underneath her when she goes to sleep and all throughout the night but she acts like she can't do it when she's playing on the floor!  She can pick herself up on her hands and she can obviously get her butt off the ground, she's just got to figure out how to put them all together :)  Then we'll be in trouble.  This girl is into everything she can get her hands on, and she can't even crawl yet!  I always stick her in her bumbo on the kitchen counter when I'm making dinner because she loves to watch everything that I'm doing.  The other night I was making gumbo and I had a bag of shrimp open on the counter and I had set her in her bumbo not thinking about the shrimp and before my hands were even off of her the shrimp were all over the floor and she was already trying to grab a spatula out of the basket I keep them in!!!  And I'll watch her sometimes, if she sees something that she wants and she can't quite reach it, she will stretch as far as she can to try and grab it.  Even my mom said the other evening, "she is going to be a handful!"  She said she definitely doesn't take after me in that department because I was so content with whatever my mom gave me to play with and I never bothered anything that I wasn't supposed to...great.

 Being super sweet :)

She's starting to take notice of the small, not so obvious things.  Like now she loves to find the tag on something, toys, clothes, anything!  And no, she didn't put her bloomers on her head by herself her momma did that!

Tornado scare

Last Thursday we had a bit of a tornado scare at the daycare.  It was getting very dark and raining pretty hard and I had been watching the radar and listening to our weather radio (which never even went off).  So I was making my rounds to all of the rooms and just told the teachers the plan if something were to happen so they knew where to go and what they needed to do.  We handed out lunch at 11:15 and I had just finished talking to the last class when someone said that a tornado had touched down about 20 minutes from here.  I immediately felt scared but knew that I couldn't show it because if I lost it, everyone else would lose it.  So I told the teachers let's just move to our "safe rooms" (thankfully we have two rooms in our building away from any outside walls and from any windows) just in case.  Then a teacher got a text from her daughter who is in high school that said they have all the kids in all the schools in the hallways and they've locked the doors and aren't letting anyone in or out.  I just got this chill all throughout my body and all of a sudden it was like, ok this is for real.  So I then was telling teachers to move a little quicker but not to even say the word tornado or storm because we don't need the kids even knowing why they are moving rooms.  I told them just grab some books, sing some songs and don't act scared because they can read it all over your face and the last thing we need was crying kids and teachers.  So I was running around, all the while fighting back tears because I WAS scared, making sure we had water, flashlights, diapers etc. because at this point I had no clue what was about to happen or how long we could be in these rooms if something were to come our way.  And then of course our phone starting ringing off the hook!  Parents were calling left and right asking about us if we were taking cover and what our plan was.  Well I finally decided that I can't be running to keep grabbing the phone so I sent a mass email out to all the parents just letting them know we were in safe rooms, gave them my cell phone number and I would let them know when we were all back in our normal rooms.  About 45 minutes later I called the sheriff's department and asked if it was safe for us to come out and she actually told us to stay put a little longer!  When we finally got back in our rooms it had been a little over an hour, but thankfully the teachers were great and held it together and so what if we were a little late on nap time :)  But things like that really get you thinking about how important it is to have safety strategies in place.  It's comforting to know that if something terrible were to happen and I wasn't there that they could handle it, and handle it well! 

This is a huge china berry tree in our front yard that barely weathered the storm.  I'm actually surprised that this was the only tree at our house that limbs got broken on.  There is an oak tree that is right outside of Korbyn's room, and if a strong north wind comes in it would land directly over her room.  And it isn't that big around, but it's just so tall and it looks like you could easily knock it over, I wish we could just cut it down!

Baby food

I don't know what to do!  Korbyn HATES baby food!  I've been slowly getting her on baby food since she was five months and now that she's 6 1/2 months, it's like she's made up her mind that she does not have to eat it if she doesn't want to.  I don't know if it's just the texture or the taste but she absolutely refuses to eat it.  She may take a couple of good bites but then that's it, she screams until you get the food out of her face.  We've tried everything.  Even her teacher at daycare said that it's like she's gone backwards, she was better at eating it when we first started but now she wants nothing to do with it.  I know that some babies really just aren't thrilled about eating baby food and that it usually takes time and I'm not so concerned that she doesn't like to eat the food, but I'm more concerned that she needs to start getting in the nutrition that the fruits and veggies offer. 

I think I know exactly what it is.  This girl is going to be extremely hard-headed.  She alredy knows exactly what she wants and she WILL let you know it.  She wants a dang bottle and not the food and she knows that if she continues to scream and cry while we're feeding her that eventually we will have to give her a bottle.  My mom mentioned that when I was younger they made "feeders" that you could put the baby food in and it allowed the baby to get accustomed to the taste and texture first and then try to feed them with a spoon so it's not such a big change all at once.  I'm sure they don't make those anymore for a reason, but I've got to try something.  I think I'm just going to take a cheap bottle, cut a pretty big slit in the nipple and mix some food with her formula.  I'm sure if I told my dr. I was doing this they would have a cow but I don't know what else to do!  So we'll see how it goes!

Church picnic

Our church always has their picnic on mother's day weekend and the past couple of years we have gotten pretty involved, which makes for a really fun time but also an exhausting couple of days.

My mom and dad have been heading up the Sunday school and christian education duties at our church and I can just feel for them because I know I'm tired by the time it's over with and they're the go-to guys for anything relating to kids at the picnic so their plates get pretty full!  It's a really great picnic though, we sell bbq in the morning then have games for the kids, a live band, a live auction, a beer stand, a concession stand with kids toys for sale too, then in the evening they also have a hamburger stand.  Colton and I have been doing the checkout for the bbq then helping with the kids games, concession and beer stand for the past couple of years but this was the first time I had to think about Korbyn.  Thankfully Doug and Loranne kept her in the morning while we sold bbq then they came out and spent the day watching her, they really helped us out SO much, I don't know what I would have done if they hadn't helped...and hopefully they had a good time too :)  But it's one of those days where we got there at 7:30 a.m. and didn't leave until 7:30 p.m. (Those are actually the times!), so exhausting.  Korbyn did good as far as I know.  It got to be pretty hot so I'm glad they have an air conditioned hall where she could go for a while and take a nap. 

After Doug and Loranne left I was still working in the concession stand and Colton was still in the beer stand so I just got her bumbo and she hung out!  The people in the back are actually the people making hamburgers.  She was so good, even though anything in her reach was in her mouth.  When we were leaving my mom said she was now a true Beisert because she spent the entire day at Loebau picnic!  Which is true, I can remember growing up we literally spent all day out there.  But that created some great memories and I can't wait for Korbyn to experience that.  Next year should hopefully be a little easier because she'll be walking...but that'll probably be harder!

Easter...reincarnated

I know I know, I'm just now posting about Easter, what an awful mom!

We had a great Easter, not very eventful but it was so nice to see family.  Of course every Easter egg hunt we went to Korbyn was sleeping.  We had our playground dedication and an Easter egg hunt at the dayschool and she fell asleep on my shoulder right before the kids went out to hunt.  Then she was asleep for the one at my mom's and Colton's mom and she did manage to wake up in time for the one at church, but we just walked around and watched from the sidelines.  After all of our Easter events were over and done with I soon realized that I didn't have a SINGLE picture of her in her fancy, shmancy dress!!!  This is the only picture I took.  Mark and Jana were so kind as to bring us some cool toys that their girls have outgrown.  This was one of them and Addy was playing with Korbyn in Memaw's kitchen.

I decided that I HAD to get at least one picture of her in her first Easter dress.  So a couple of days ago I decided to reincarnate Easter.  I just threw a quilt down in our yard, put the dress back on and snapped a few shots.  I'm glad I put it on when I did because I couldn't even button the last button in the back because she had grown so much already!

Not very professional but it does the job :)  Of course Pixie had to get in them too.

Camping

Last weekend we went camping with Jenn and Taylor and her mom and dad.  They just bought a new camper and we just bought a new boat so we had to break them in :)  We had so much fun, but looking back we didn't do hardly anything...I guess that's why it was so fun!  Korbyn came with us this time and I was a little nervous but I should have known she would do great since we were outside.  She even slept good the first night, the second night not so much.  I brought along a pack and play because I was bound and determined that that's where she was going to be sleeping so I wouldn't have to go through the struggle of getting her used to her crib again.  But when we were getting things set up we quickly realized with that many people staying in one camper there just wasn't room for a crib.  So she ended up sleeping with me on one of the bunk beds, Colton slept on the one across from us.  But it worked out perfectly because thanks to daycare she is so used to noise that she didn't wake up one time from people going in and out of the camper once I had already put her down for a nap or for bed. 

Saturday evening we tried to take a little boat ride, but it didn't work out so well.  It's pretty much impossible to find a life jacket that fits a 6 month old appropriately.  Jenn brought one of Cutter's but when we were about to back the boat in the water we were trying to get the life jacket on Korbyn and it just was NOT going to work.  The foam in those things are so thick and babies don't really have a neck so by the time you close it to get it latched, it literally is choking her!  Then she started screaming and people were starting to look, so I just said "ok, this isn't going to work just let us get off."  I felt bad because I know Jenn and Cutter wanted to go on a ride but thankfully they got off with us and we went down by the picnic tables and Cutter got to play in the sand and water for a little bit. 

That was the first time I've been camping at Bastrop and I have to say I really enjoyed it.  We usually go to Sommerville which is nice because it's so close, but I think I like Bastrop a little more!  But they are a LOT stricter on things compared to Sommerville.  I mean some of the things are pretty ridiculous.  You were only allowed two vehicles per campsite and your camper counted as a vehicle!!!  We had a camper, two boats, and five vehicles!  So Jenn's dad had to rent another site just to park his truck and boat.  And we tried to park everything there (and it all fit, nobody was blocking anything or in the road) but they very rudely came by and said that if we didn't move it we would have a $500 fine.  But overall it was a super fun weekend and I can't wait to go again :)

 There's that stinkin tongue again!

My mom didn't go camping with us I just figured I'd stick this one in here.  We went to watch my nephew's t-ball game the other evening and she was in such a great mood!

Daddy's new baby

Colton's dream has finally come true!  He is a VERY proud owner of a new bass boat.  This is something that he has wanted since he was born (I swear he came out of the womb with a fishing pole in his hand!) and it's all I've been hearing about the past 6 1/2 years that we've been together.  When we finally sat down and discussed it (about four months ago) and were able to afford it he immediately began looking.  He was constantly on craigslist and boat trader looking for a bass boat.  But everything that came up was either too far away, too expensive etc. and the ones that did come up in our price range and in our area someone had already got their hands on before us.  So about two weeks ago this boat came up and it was exactly what he had been looking for and only about an hour away.  But of course when he called the guy about it someone was already going to be looking at it and test driving it that day but he said that Colton was next in line if the guy didn't go through with it and that he would call him that evening if that did happen.  That evening came...and no call.  He was so disappointed and almost gave up looking completely because this had happened so many times.  But that next day we were in church and all of a sudden he grabs his pocket and rushes outside.  Then he comes back in and sits down, when we get out he asks if I'm ready to go get a boat.  The guy didn't go through with it so it was his if he wanted it!  He was beyond happy.

 This is my new favorite picture!  And can you believe this is when she was running a 104.5 fever?!  I had literally taken her temperature and then come outside to tell Colton, it was so strange.  But they look so ready to just go lol!  I don't even have a picture of the boat because it's always covered up at home and when we go somewhere I never think to take a picture.

 These crack me up.  We were in College Station and Colton had asked me to pick up some stuff for the boat from Academy.  I saw these little kid sunglasses and just couldn't resist.  I probably looked like a moron standing in the main aisle trying on every pair of glasses on my baby and then laughing at her.  And the funny thing is is that she loved it!  She didn't fuss or try to pull away at all.  Then when I decided I wanted the pink ones I just left them on her and was pushing her around the store with them on and she wasn't phased at all, it was so flippin cute!

 Even her teacher put her sunglasses on her at school and sent me a picture!  Right now she doesn't mind anything on her, glasses (apparently), bows, hats, earrings...but who knows, in a couple of months I'm sure I won't be able to put any of those things on her :(

Sitting up

YAY!  Korbyn can sit up all on her own!  For the longest time you would sit her on her bottom and she would maybe stay there for a couple of seconds but then topple over.  Well one day last week I sat her up on her butt to button the back of her jumper and I decided to just let go and see what would happen and she stayed up all by herself!  She was still really wobbly at first and sometimes falling when she lost balance, but now she's a pro.  She can reach for a toy and pick herself back up or if she's about to fall back or to the side she can stop herself and hold herself back up.  I cannot tell you how much of a difference this makes.  Just by her being able to sit up by herself it has helped out so much!

SIX MONTHS!

I absolutely cannot believe that my baby is six months old today!  I know everyone always says how fast they grow up but WOW it is amazing how true that actually is.  She is just getting to be so entertaining, I can't wait to "figure" her out more.  I was telling Colton the other day that I just can't wait to see her throughout the day and I get butterflies in my stomach every time I do get to see her!

Some new things about Korbyn...

She has definitely found her lungs and knows exactly when to use them.  She has almost a banshee scream that I can hear down the hallway into my office at work.

If she's fussy in the car we HAVE to roll the windows down and she's fine.  I was telling her teacher about it and a few days later she told me "oh my gosh!  You weren't lying!  I saw you driving through town with your windows down and I knew that had to be you!"  Whatever...it works.

She hates being hot.  When she was born she absolutely hated the teeniest, tiniest draft that made her at all chilly but now she's the complete opposite.  I notice that if she starts stirring in bed I'll take the blanket off of her and she'll go back to sleep and that is with her ceiling fan going and the air on!  I guess she's got plenty of insulation to keep her warm :)

She isn't a baby who can be occupied with toys.  This one is unfortunate for mom and dad!  This child is not happy being on her tummy or back with some toys, the closest she'll come to that is standing in her exersaucer.  She would rather sit in her bumbo with no toys and watch me do the laundry, or watch me put my makeup on in the mornings or just sit outside doing absolutely NOTHING.  As long as she can see people and see what they're doing, she's fine.

She grabs everything!!!  I can't even stand next to the fridge for two seconds because half of our refrigerator magnets will be on the floor.  And anything that I'm eating or drinking in front of her she just stares and tries to grab it.  And she's so quick!

She immediately smiles as soon as I hold my phone up (to take a picture).  Even her teacher says as soon as she sees hers if she's going to take a picture of her, she starts smiling real big.

Happy six months big girl!  :)