Winter/Spring 2013 Update

I am an awful blogger these days.  I do check in to see what everyone else is up to, but I can't seem to find the time to sit down and write (without thinking of 100 other things I should be doing).  The days seem to fly by and I can't believe my baby girl is nearly 10 months old.  Before I know it, we'll be celebrating her first birthday!
Baby girl started crawling at 8 months.  Jackson was 9 months when he started crawling, so I was kind of expecting another month to prepare and re-babyproof things.  Now days, she's pulling up on everything and doing all the baby stuff that mischievous babies do.  Just yesterday she ate her hair clip. I was frantically looking all over for the clip, sure that it had just fell on the floor.  The clip was no where to be found and I called the doctor.  I was sure that we would have to take her to the hospital; conveniently enough we just switched to the high-deductible insurance plan and I was freaking out not only about her swallowing the clip, but the cost of an ER visit.  After talking to the nurse, we just have to watch her and check her diapers for the clip.  I keep looking around to see if maybe I missed it and it will be lying there on the floor, but no such luck.  Jackson never did the putting everything in your mouth thing, but Hayden wants to taste everything.  She has 2 teeth and these teeth have tested my commitment to nursing.  I have these days when I cry and think I just want to quit, then I talk to a friend or my husband and they encourage me to stick with it for just a few more months.  Part of me wants to be done with it because I want my body back.  I want to be able to go on a crash diet, or take whatever medicine I want without worrying about it effecting my supply.  I have decided to start a pretty strict diet program next week with my sweet husband.  At this point I feel like my weight loss is more important than Hayden continuing to nurse.  I know that sounds incredibly selfish, but for health reasons I need to lose weight.  And I think Hayden would be better off having a healthy mom and possibly not breastfeeding than an unhealthy mom and continuing to breastfeed her.  I will continue to nurse her as I can, but if I lose my milk supply do to dieting I'm ok with that.
Jackson is 2 years 4 months and he is such a joy.  Yes, he has his moments of independence and defiance but he is such a sweet boy.  He loves Thomas the Train and he talks like the trains do with a bit of a British accent.  He is extremely verbal and can tell you exactly what he wants.  He doesn't talk like a baby, but like an adult.  People tell us all the time that he is very smart.  I haven't been around many other kids his age, so I don't really know how he is compared to other 2 year olds.  We are considering starting preschool for him.  Since I stay home, we don't get out much.  We do go outside everyday, but in the summer it's hard to do that because it's so hot.  I'm planning on working on potty-training next week.  We started it a while back, but everyone got sick and I just couldn't stick with it.  Hopefully now, it will be something that he'll master.
Josh finished his real estate class in December.  He took the national/state exam last weekend.  He had been sick the week before the test and it had been over 2 months since he had been to a class, so I have to be honest that I didn't think it would be a good outcome.  I told him that either way, I would be happy for him.  We both were thinking that if he passed the test, then we would know that this real estate thing could be a feasible option for him.  He passed the test!!  I was so excited for him!!  I know he was miserable in the testing center.  He had a cold and couldn't take in tissues or cough drops.  The security at the testing center was worse than airport security.  He has to take the contract writing class, but then he can get his real estate license.
I worked part-time at the contracting company I worked for before Jackson was born.  I covered for the girl who replaced me, while she was out on maternity leave.  It was a little awkward, but I was able to get back into the swing of things and get the work done.  It was nice working part-time for those few weeks.  Hopefully there will be a position for me permanently later on down the road.  There were some days when I didn't want to go in and I dreaded leaving the kids, but after getting to the office I felt good about it.  The extra income was nice too.  God knows my heart and he has the perfect part-time job for me.