babysitting and more!

I haven't done a lot of babysitting since I left home. I think because I don't have any kids people just don't think I like them or I'm not good with them or something. Either way it doesn't really hurt my feelings. Babies are fun to play with when mom or dad are around because when they get cranky, you can just give them back. But I'm not opposed to watching someone's child for a few hours. Just like I don't love dogsitting but I do it because I know people need someone they're comfortable with to keep their dogs. It's probably a bonus that I do both of these things for free.

This weekend I am babysitting. Dad just deployed and mom has a reserve weekend. Luckily the training is relatively close by so she opted with dropping him off in the morning (6 AM) and picking him up in the evening (8-9 PM) instead of having us keep him overnight. Although that probably wouldn't have been a problem seeing that he went to bed right away, didn't get a bath and saved his poop for me for the next morning anyways. Really I was hoping if I fed him rice cereal at 7 PM he would have pooped it back out before 6 AM. Honestly, I haven't changed a poopie diaper in about 4 years. Anytime I've watched babies in the last few years, they've only peed during my shift. I almost threw up! I can pick up dog poop without flinching but for some reason the first poopie diaper just really got me! The 4 since then haven't been a pleasure but it's tolerable now.

After the first day, Tim was like "why is he eating all the time?" But then by the second day he was convinced I was feeding him way too much. Apparently 8 month olds should only eat 3 times a day like we do. I had to explain to him that all the bottles, cereal, baby food and snacks mom packed were for one day, not for the week. You also have to keep in mind that this is an 8 month old that wears 12 month old clothing.

I was unsuccessful at keeping him on his nap schedule but he finally drifted off to the sounds of Halo. In a few hours I will have survived the weekend with no major mishaps and only one melt down (by the baby, not me). This weekend I learned that I love pack n' plays and my dogs are actually pretty good with the baby. They get a little scared when he cries and acts like he's going to punch them through the netting of the pack n' play but other than that it's been a pretty good weekend.

I also started my sewing classes 2 weeks ago. The first lesson consisted of a field trip to JoAnn's Fabric so our instructor could tell us what to buy and what the difference between all the fabrics are. The second week, we were supposed to start sewing a tote bag but we took too much time learning to thread our machines and sew a straight line. So this week we should be starting and completing the tote bags and starting on pajama pants. I know most people think I'm a dork but I'm really excited about learning how to sew.

On Friday, I visited my friend who was babysitting in Atlanta. She makes purses, ornaments, diaper bags, changing pads, and pretty much anything you can sew. The kids were at school for the day so she gave me a little workshop in sewing. I made a baby taggie. They seem pretty simple to make and in the end they were pretty simple but while I was sewing it, I definitely struggled. I'm hoping she can teach me a few simple projects before they PCS but they live in Augusta so we'll have to see if that's going to work out. Sadly she practically lived across the street from me when we were at Hood but we never made the time to get together. I also didn't know how talented she was until the past year. I knew she was talented but I had no idea she had gone to national competitions for designing and sewing when she was in high school.

Well this post seems long enough. Better get some food ready for when the baby wakes up...